


College life

by TheRandomNoodle



Category: A Goofy Movie (1995), Animaniacs
Genre: M/M, Other, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:01:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 56,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28516821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRandomNoodle/pseuds/TheRandomNoodle
Summary: College was a normal every day thing, till Max Goof met Yakko Warner at a party, an old aquantice of his, that he knew to work in the Warner brothers studio, a rival toon company to Disney, after becoming friends, both start to catch feelings, though neither know how to admit it, Just a fun little tale of college and trials and tribulations it throws at you.For Yakko Warner college was a way to escape burbank, a way for him and his sibs to led a normal life away from the spot light and away from the prying eyes of the exacutives, He had not thought that he would find himself in a bisexual crisis, because of a certian, Maxamillion Goof.
Relationships: Goofy/Sylvia Marpole, Max Goof/Yakko Warner
Comments: 85
Kudos: 108





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 

Max had never been the type to be easily swayed by a few pretty words and a flirty remark, but when said words and remark is coming from the one and only Yakko Warner he found it hard not let his mind sway and his plans to be rearranged. 

Sometimes he missed the days before he knew the eldest Warner, When he didn’t have to worry about his plans going astray or his thoughts to be messed with, Hard to believe that in the span on 2 months Max had grown used to the talkative boy leaving his head in a spin, However Max couldn’t completely blame it all on Yakko he supposed, After all this was his second year in college, perhaps that had something to do with it, college did tend to change people, but usually not so much in the second year. 

Lost in thought once again Max let out a huff and dropped his head into his hand, fidgeting with the pen in his free hand he looked at the cracks in the library wall for a long moment before dropping head onto the table with a thud, he refused to make eye contact with the goofball that was still beside him, no doubt still standing there with that mischievous grin on his face, hands clasped behind his back as he bent forward to be at Max’s level when they were talking earlier, earlier when Max was still able to study and had plans of studying well into the night for his exam next week. 

However it seemed like Yakko had other plans when he bounced his way into said library and over to Max like it was second nature, hands on hips looking ready to take over the world, yet despite only being Yakkos friend for 2 months Max knew what ever Yak had to say only meant trouble and he was right when that stupidly sweet guy opened his mouth and asked Max to come to a party with him tonight, now Max wasn’t completely weak willed- he did try to protest- but when Yakko looked at him with those stupidly bright eyes that honestly had no reason to be so soul suckingly bright, It was like the goof’s mind over heated and when the other began to plead with him, even going as far as to drop to his knees hands clasped , fake weeping, saying something along the lines of ‘Please! You are my Pal, right? Do this for your good friend! I need moral support! I gotta make sure Dot stays out of trouble I do not trust that- Jackson guy please buddy! For me!?’ with absolutely no shame, not even when all eyes in the library were on them, Max even noticed Syliva looking over her glasses from the desk and raising her brow, that is how Max found his head in the desk and groaned. This evil little- 

All was silent for a moment before Yakko spoke up again 

“I can do this all-night pal so what's your answer? Come on~ showing up with a good lookin’ person like you would surely get some attention!” 

A tone all to cheeky and Suave as though he knew what was next, the goofs' cheeks burned red, he did not believe a word that Yakko had said, but it did not make the compliment any less flattering to Max, Max slowly turned his head so he could see Yakko, and he was right, Yakko was standing there as he earlier though, his ‘smokey topaz’ slacks and black turtleneck and green scarf and all, his gaze found Yakkos as he glared 

“I hate you” he admitted, though there was no bite to his tone finally sitting up, “what time is the party?” He asked reluctantly watching as Yakko seemed to completely light up much to Max’s bi-crisis' dismay, 

“9pm sharp! Outside the Grover dorms! You're a real pal Maxxie!” he teased ruffling the Goofs hair till Max smacked his hand away with a grumble, 

“Whatever just get outta here so I can at least get some of this work done. but you owe me big time for this “ 

Max ran a hand through his hair fixing it, watching as Yakko bounced on his heels, grinning back to him, 

“you’ll thank me later if you hook up there! Lots of pretty guys and gals I promise!” He swore skipping off towards the door happily, without a doubt Max now understood why these Warner siblings were known around campus, if the rest were anything like their brother, they were used to getting their way. 

“ya, ya whatever, just get out of here before I change my mind” rubbing his temple Max half threatened, ignoring how his chest felt light whenever the energetic man was around. 

He watched as Yakko offered a wink and salute 

“right away Buddy, see ya tonight!” and with that he was gone out of the room. Leaving Max with a room full of curious students and an inquisitive looking Sylvia who looked between the door and Max as though asking him who that was, shaking his head Max shoved his face into a random book, ignoring his burning cheeks, Sylvia would tell his Dad about this later but until then he hopefully would learn what the difference between politics in the 18th and 19th century was!


	2. Chapter 2: Yakkos side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yakko vists his sibling, Wakko can be very wise, I tried hard to wakko non-binary in this but may of accidentally used a pronoun once

Chapter 2 

Meanwhile outside the Library Yakko was leaning against the wall punching the air in celebration, He had convinced Max to come! Now Yakko surprisingly was not one for parties, in fact he tended to avoid them if neither of his Sib’s were going, usually he just went for the free alcohol or to make sure no one decided to mess with his baby siblings, But- tonight was an important night as Yakko had made a promise to Dot to help her friend. 

Even if Yakko could care less about what help Dot’s friend needed, He could never refuse when one of his siblings asked for help, His little sis cared alott about her friends, it made sense as she never had anyone but him and Wakko growing up, it was nice to see her mingle with other girl’s her age, she didn’t rely on Yakko as much as she grew over and despite all of the order's complaining and teasing, he missed it... he missed when she used to run to him after nightmares at night, or when she had boy problems and would talk him into the early hours of the morning about it, so If his little sis wanted help with something Yakko would happily agree. 

Even if that something involved setting up his new friend with one of Dot’s- His new friend that had very much peaked Yakko’s interest and seemed interesting in a way that had Yakko wanting to learn more though the Warner brushed it off as budding feelings of friendship, for the sake of pleasing his sister he jumped at the chance to help, though he does feel bad about not telling Max about this, he knew Max would not be forced to interact with her, if they interacted great! If they did not oh well no harm done. 

With a hum the toon rocked on his heels before walking off towards the cafeteria, checking the time on a nearby clock he realized that this was around the time Wakko got a break from class, he should check up on his little Sib, it had been a while since they last talked and by that he meant 5 hours. 

Yakko did not have a class today, he only came down to ask Max to accompany him tonight, it took alott less convincing than he thought it would, but he would not complain just meant more time to enjoy the day, it only took 10 minutes to walk from the library to the cafeteria, Yakko did not need to look hard to spot the familiar red cap, just poking out from above a tall pile of food, Wakko seemed to have company his band mates. 

Cursive, a Rabbit Cat toon, one of the many sons of the legend Oswald, a Professor on campus that had retired early and moved to Florida with his wife for a 3-month vacation, Professor Oswald was known to give 0 shits and his classes were legendary in forms of teaching, however only those who were taught by him know what happened in those classes' rooms, what happens in room B487 stays in room B487, one of the biggest mystery's the college has to offer. 

Cursive kept his ears tied back, 3 piercings in his left ear and a nose ring, a red bandana was tied around his arm, and he was often seen carrying his bass on his back. 

The other was a toon was Mandy, a child star like the Warners from a show from the early 2000’s called The Grim adventures of Billy and Mandy, she kept her hair in a pixie cut style with a skull hair clip clipping her hair to the side, another clip was a red X, and she wore a black and white stripped off shoulder shirt with a baby pink pin-o-four over it and ripped tights. Her nails black as she looked over them, she was the guitarist, there was another 2 in the band, but they were not here. 

“hiya Wakko!” Yakko explained pushing down his head playfully before looking to the other two, 

“Cursive, Mandy “he smiled, getting a nod from Cursive and a hum from Mandy who seemed busy looking through something on her phone. 

“Yakko! Donut?” 

he asked offering a half bitten chocolate ringlet, the elder was not even disgusted and simply shook his head moving to the free seat at the opposite end of Wakko 

“I'm good middle sib, had a full breakfast.” 

Giving a shrug Wakko chomped it all in one bite “suit yourself” before digging into a slice of cheesecake, “did you find Max? Ask him out yet?” Wakko asked wiggling his brows 

With an unimpressed look Yakko crossed his arms 

“I asked him to the ‘party’ Wak, He said yes, but don’t mix this up I'm doing this for Dot, she wants one of her girlfriends or something set up with him” Yakko watched as a donut rolled across the table, his fingers moving to the tabled edge to tap on it, suddenly finding great interest in the shiny surface. So, distracted by the smoothness of the table under his gloved hand, he failed to notice how all 3 occupants of the tabled looked up to each other with a raised brow, all silently agreeing that Yakko was bluffing on doing this only for Dot, 

“But are you happy to do that Yak? You know Dot won't mind if youuuuu I don’t knowww~ admitted you are interested in Max.” Wakko stated dragging out the beginning before stating the end like a fact, and it was, Wakko knew Dot wouldn’t mind, and honestly he was quite sure Dot did not have a friend that was into Max, even if she did Wakko knew his sister was aware of Yakkos feelings even if he himself wasn’t, he just needed a little.... push. 

Instantly Yakko seemed to jolt in his seat, back straightening in a comedic fashion, hands being thrown from the table and into the air, flapping around in nervous hand gestures something Yakko tended to do unknowingly when nervous or lying, “HAH-” his cheeks were pink 

“Wakko, my sweet middle sib. I told you I do not think of Max like that sure he is funny- and has this cute little thing he does when he laughs ya know that whole Hyuk thing? And that he is the only person to honestly listen to my rants whole heartedly, I want to open up to him so much and just talk into the night and damn does he look good when he skateboards, but he is only a friend- a F R I E N D even though I want more I-” and with that his mouth shut, eyes widening. 

A smirk fell onto Wakkos lips, they knew if he let Yakko do his thing and well- yak he would eventually dig a hole for himself. Leaning on his hands Wakko watch their brother struggle through his little Crisis, red faced with his nose scrunched up and eyes squinted as though he tried to figure out what he just said, like he did not know what he said but just knew it was not good. 

“that I-” and then he took a deep breath like a gasp eyes widening again and before anyone knew it Yakkos face had dropped and slapped into a table. Bingo~ 

Mandy and Cursive stared at Yakko for a moment before Mandy let out a low whistle “he got it bad.” before looking back to her phone, the mute Cursive nodding in agreement before signing with sass “you got that right, poor guy is already knocking himself out for this max” 

Yakko slowly lift his face, his forehead red from the smack to the table, 

“WakkoOoOO” he whined “what do I do?” he asked, Yakko folded his arms on the table before rubbing his face into them, for someone who often flirted, Yakko never actually knew what to do with feelings, anytime he went on a date he earther talked too much or the date didn’t show up, So Yakko never got far enough to gain this interest in someone, he didn’t know what it was like to actually-…. crush on someone. 

“I don’t know bro your guess is as good as mine.” they flopped some Pizza around, using a gloved hand to push the red baseball cap up. 

“But you might want to tell Dot she knows more about this then I do” with that he bit into the pizza happily, Wakko always had been the quieter sibling, not as chatty about this sort of thing, more as their name implies- Wacky. More about actions than words, need help with creating havoc or chaos Wakkos your person, but need help with actual social things? Dot’s got all the answers. 

Yakko stayed hidden in his arms for a moment internally groaning, just his luck, but...now that he had let it slip out loud, Yakko couldn’t help but feel relieved at all the thoughts he previously fought back being able to surface, each moment he stared at Max a little bit too long, every time he thought about how expressive the other eyes were, each time he itched to reach out to fix his hair, he accepted that those weren't a yearning for closer friendship but a yearning for something more than that. It was not just interest. It was a crush. 

Sighing Yakko tilted his head back as he sat up, silent before standing up, 

“you're right. But I'm not telling her till tomorrow I have a party to get ready for~ cannot show up looking sloppy, can I?” he sent a wink Wakkos way and snatched a muffin from the table for turning and walking away “THANKS WAK!” he called back a mouth full of muffin, only to fear a distant and offended “HEY!” 

Yakko grinned to himself, taking a few bites from the muffin he lost himself in thought, he gave himself a little sniff, should he get a new cologne?


	3. chapter 3: the party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party chapter is where i accually start to get a plot going in this thing so i finally figured out what im trying to do.  
> Also Dot makes an apperance

CHAPTER 3 

It was 8:59pm outside the Grovers dorms, Yakko stood outside, Hands in his pants pockets, as he looked up to the dark sky, his hair was fixed a little bit more than usual, he looked more cleaned up, his usual pants were switched out for jeans, the ends cuffed and folded twice, a pair a red sneakers on his feet and a green turtleneck tucked into them, it was rather quite till he heard a pair of footsteps running up the pavement, catching his attention he looked down and over to the sound, it was dark but under the light of the half busted lamp he still recognized who it was and smiled, “Cutting it fine aren't we Max?” He teased in a playful manner. 

Max had left his apartment around half 8 but made a quick stop to get some gum, worried about his breath if he was to be up close in a crowded room with people, but thanks to his luck the woman in front of him got in a fight with the cashier, leaving him stuck there till 8:46pm, he had to run the rest of the way if he was to make it on time, he really regretted not bringing his bored right about now, but it wouldn’t be the smartest choice to bring to a college party, it would either end up stolen or broken. 

Max cursed to himself as he realized he had tamed his hair for nothing as the run over had completely ruined it anyway, In the midst of his frustration is when he spotted Yakko, instantly slowly down his steps, he walked, attempting to catch his breath as he looked his friend over, he looked-… he looked good. It reminded Max of the first time they met which was at a party like this during fresher's week, though Yakko was approximately 4 drinks in and giggling like a mad man and also didn’t look half as put together as now, the night ended in a not so wonderful way with Yakko throwing up over a balcony and Max walking him back to his dorm. Not ideal but hey at least they became friends out of it. 

Years apart had made the two strangers since their childhood, though they werent the closest of friends even as kids, they swapped words a few times when Disney and Warner studios had mixers, They were friendly at least but this was the first time they concidered each other, friends.

As Max got closer, he couldn’t help but feel self-conscious about his own appearance, reaching up to fix try and fix his hair, he attempted to push it back out of his face. Wearing nothing too different from his usual get up, he wore more formfitting jeans, and a black long-sleeved shirt, his red hoodie tied around his waist to complete the look. 

“h-hey!” he called out 

“look man I'm sorry the lady in front of me in the store was a complete bitch and Pete texted he said he’s meeting us tonight I-” he paused now beside Yakko as his nose caught something 

“new cologne?” He asked having not ever smelled something like this on Yakko before, it was an odd thing to notice but it held a strong scent, strong but- nice. It smelled strange, strange as in he couldn’t place his finger on what it quite was, but it smelled comforting. 

With a smile Max nudged Yakkos arm “tryin’ to impress someone? Is that what I'm really moral support for?” Max mused only meaning to jostle Yakko, however Yakkos response was-. completely unexpected. 

Instead of his usual banter which often resulted in a smug or joking comment about how he didn’t need to try and impress to be wanted the older Warner seemed to tense up for a moment, his gaze refusing to meet Max’s own before he looked back with a shy grin. Scratching his cheek that seemed a little but pink, but it was hard to see under the dim lighting, “Ya, something like that” There was no joke to it, no punch just-. honesty. 

It took Max back a little, and made his stomach drop in a way he didn’t think it could or even would, “oh-” it made him shuffle back a little, he didn’t know why but such a small comment made him...upset? No it couldn’t of been that he was probably just hungry, ya probably that he had skipped lunch today and only had a small dinner so he would roll with that, besides, Yakko trying to impress someone was something Max had witnessed countless of times in the past 2 months, but- it was just how Yakko responded to Max’s question, that shy little grin and blush- if it was a blush, the extra care he put into his appearance tonight and how he didn’t seem to flaunt about who this person was like he usual did, that just pushed all the wrong buttons for max. He didn’t know why but he just decided that he didn’t like it. 

However, he snapped out of his little sad dump when he noticed Yakko looking to him in confusion, 

“ah! Sorry Yak” he rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish smile, “I didn’t eat much today just feeling a bit off” 

He consoled though Yakko seemed a bit skeptical with his hum, he eventually shook his head and grabbed Max by the arm dragging him off, 

“If ya say so! But let’s go. Dot is already in there and I saw Jackson a few minutes ago- lets go creep patrol!” 

He exclaimed his free hand being thrown in the air, the name made Max cringe, 

“ya might want to change the name-” 

He advised 

“Ya I didn’t realize it sounded wrong till I said it. “ Yakko shrugged, ducking by a couple chatting by the door and pushing past a couple making out of the stairs, before they reached the room. 

The music could be heard from outside the building so it was certainly deafening this close, Yakko held up his phone, a silent agreement that if anything was super important they could text each other, no point in losing their voices tonight, Max gave a nod, as his gaze trailed to where Yakko held his wrist, if he slipped his hand just a little- they could hold ha- no no he shouldn’t think about that- it was just a little precaution so that they wouldn’t lose each other, no bad Max- bad brain- but even if he didn’t do it- Yakkos hand slipped down till it was in Max’s own gloved one, the Goof’s eyes widened as his cheeks felt hot, Max looked back and yelled 

“It's harder to lose you this way!” though it was a straight up lie, Yakko just did it without much thought, though luckily the excuse came easy to him, Max stared at their hands before he gave a nod, squeezing Yakkos back, noticing how easy it seemed to do this, they pushed back the crowded hallway and into the more spacious Kitchen\Living area, when Max felt a buzz in his pocket, reaching in he fished out his phone to see a text from yakko and opened it, it read 

Yakko 9:09pm: Wakko and his band should be playing later tonight 

Before another text followed up 

Yakko 9:10pm: target spotted 

But just as he read that Max was yanked forward through the crowd by his friend, looking up he slipped his phone back into his pocket, looking around in confusion before his eyes landed on what Yakko had claimed to be their target. 

There by the cupboards and next to the window stood a very unamused looking Dot, her arms folded, Dots hair had grown a little bit since she reached the adult form, since toons didn’t really have set ages after their shows were complete, they could switch between aged forms to suit their accrual age. 

Dot gained hers after the original show aired but stayed a child, aging like a normal person as they attended high school and then college, She was taller now, no longer in a child's body, she had grown to be a rather pretty toon, seeing as she was cute as a kid it wasn’t a surprise, though Yakko still tended to brag about his adorable siblings, She wore a simple pink dress, white frills at the hem and a white sash around the middle, it had buttons on the top of the dress with a simple and modest sweet heart neckline, her old hair clip that once kept her ears out of her face was now traded for a yellow hairband with a flower decoration on the sides. 

Though her appearance was not all that important now, as before her stood Jackson, leaning again the window, blocking her into the cupboards, he seemed rather smug in whatever he was saying so much so that he didn’t seem to realize Dot rolling her eyes, Yakko was marching his way over there when everything seemed to go in slow motion, Jackson spoke, Dot froze, her fists clenched and before anyone knew what was happening Jackson had gotten sucker punched into the stomach, It caused such a commotion that even the music stopped. The room fell silent, though those in the hallway still chatted, and Yakko let out a low whistle 

“Damn Sis good punch should'a used your mallet though”


	4. Chapter 4: Uno Shots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning theres college drinking in this chapter and bad decions.  
> For those who dont know Uno Shots is a game I made up seeing as I am a college student.  
> It is basically a game of uno, But everytime you lose you take a shot, Anytime you get one of the "pick up (no of cards)" you take a shot for each card you have to pick up. when ever you get a reverse card the person to your left takes a shot or when you get too chose the card color you chose you takes the shot.

CHAPTER 4 

It only took a total of 2 minutes before those who stared looked away from the train wreak and got back to partying, the music was still off but that’s because it seemed like the band had made an appearance and was setting up. 

Jackson was crouched on the floor, holding his stomach in an attempt to catch his breath, glaring to Dot seeming to attempt to say something but unable to due to being winded, stepping around him Dot shook out her hand 

“He had it coming, didn’t think to use the mallet” she glanced down to Jackson on the floor before back to Yakko before her eyes landed on Max behind him and then down to the two’s conjoined hands, perking up at this she looked back to her older brother with a sly grin, watching as he jumped at her gaze quickly pulling his hand away from Max’s own, and rubbing the back of his head instead. 

The Goof’s brows furrowed when Yakko slipped his hand away, as he felt an almost painful tug in his chest, staring at his hand for a moment before slipping it into his pocket with a frown, Offering Dot a small smile, 

“What did he do? Didn't think you were the violent type?” Max asked only to be cut off fast by Yakko 

“Not the violent type? You should see her when ya interrupt her beauty sleep you’d get more than a Punch I tell ya that” 

Huffing Dot fluffed the ends of her hair, dress swaying as she rocked in place, her eyes trained on her brother and his friend, keeping alert as she grew rather suspicious upon seeing them holding hands earlier, 

“Don't listen to him Max, I'm much cuter than that, I only attack those who deserve it and he-” she threw her thumb backwards towards the floor “deserved it, now I'm gonna head off, Babs is around somewhere, and I'd rather lose that creep” 

The smaller toon explained ready to walk off, only to stop as Yakko tapped her shoulder, 

“Hey text me when you're ready to leave I'll walk you back” This earned him an eyeroll but a small smile as Dot leaned over and gave him a quick kiss to the cheek, 

“Gez I'm a big girl Yakko I can walk myself but sure, that is if you're sober enough to even walk tonight~” There was a teasing edge to her tone But even if she didn’t say it Dot was grateful that her brother still was protective of her, She knew lots of siblings that grew apart as they aged so she was thankful that Yakko stayed the same, Though she supposed not all siblings were raised by the eldest, most had parents so perhaps that had something to do with it, 

Max watched the interaction with a soft smile, Seeing as he never had any siblings he always wondered what it would have been like to have a little brother or sister, it was also nice to see the big brother side a Yakko, To Max it seemed like Yakko could be two completely different people, to him and others Yakko was this dramatic chatter box, with a flair for theatre and knowing random facts, a comedy toon that could lay a joke in almost every situation, who never seemed down and constantly bounced around full of energy. 

Yet with his siblings, weather he realized it or not, he came softer, more responsible, His jokes became more about poking fun at himself instead of poking fun at them, he seemed more sensitive to what they felt, and not to forget whenever he came over to Max’s dorm he always seemed to call them at least once to check up on them, make sure they were eating, it was like clockwork each day, There was so much more to Yakko Warner then Max previous thought, and the Goof couldn’t help but wonder... if he one day would see a side to Yakko that no one else had seen, A more vulnerable side. Shaking his head Max glanced back to Dot a small chuckle leaving his lips at her comment of a sober Yakko that no one else had seen, A more vulnerable side. Shaking his head Max glanced back to Dot a small chuckle lea 

She turned to leave but suddenly seemed to remember something, her eyes lit up as her attention suddenly turned towards Max, 

“Oh! Right! Max! You're single right?!” 

The question was sprung on him so suddenly that he could not help but stumble a little, 

“I- yes I am? But uh- sorry Dot you're not really my type” He quickly admitted, gaze darting between Yakko and Dot, more so to Yakko worried how the other might react to such a straight rejection of his sister, only that the two seemed to laugh at the suggestion. 

“No- Max, you're cute but it's not for me, one of friends, you know Cassidy Green. Short, a cat toon? “ 

Emmbarest for a moment he blushed but then remembering the girl clicked his fingers 

“oh ya- she was in my class last year with Professor Rodgers, right?” he asked noticing how Dot seemed to bounce on her heels as he remembered that friend of her’s 

“Thats the one! Say, you wouldn’t be interested in getting her number, would you? Cause ya know-” she leaned over in good old cartoony fashion, as though she was telling him a secret a hand cupped around her mouth as her eyes darted around, 

“I know of a lady that can hook you up with it.” she polished her nails off the pink fabric oh her dress before looking them over, making it obvious who this ‘lady’ was. A very forward wing woman if Max had anything to say about it, and though he usually would jump at the chance of getting the number of someone interested in him, Max already has his eyes set on a certain Warner and with said Warner standing beside him it just felt wrong to accept such an offer. 

Laughing off the request in good old nervous fashion he shook his head, 

“No thanks Dot I already have my eyes set on a certain someone” he hummed, dart eyes seeming to go in the direction of a very distracted someone, who seemed surprised at Max’s confession, instantly falling into his own head, Max looked away just in time to fail to notice the crest fallen look on his friend's face. 

However, Dot had noticed it, noticed how down her brother seemed but also how painfully oblivious to Max’s hint. 

Shaking her head, the youngest Warner let out a dramatic sigh and leaned on Max’s side, 

“A true shame Maxamillion! Cassie is quite the catch! But whoever this eye catcher is you better real ‘em in fast” she pushed away. 

“Well, I'll try too” he mused watching as Dot finally made her exit not before she gave a small wave, 

“see ya later Maxxie! Yakko! Stay away from the gin!” she warned pointing a finger towards him in a sharp and quick action 

Yakko looked down to his feet, eyes lowering with his mood, kicking at the carpet for a moment he ingested the news of Max already liking someone, thinking to himself- ‘Max already likes someone? Why didn’t he tell me? Is he emmbarest? ...maybe he is just making it up, so Dot leaves him alone on this topic? Ya that’s probably it I'll ask him later ‘Forcing a small smile onto his face Yakko looked back to his sister. Jumping at his sudden inclusion in her goodbyes, 

“Ya ya and you stay away from everything! You're still underage!” He warned, though it fell to deaf ears as soon the pink dress or yellow hairband was nowhere in sight, shaking his head fondly Yakkos ears perked up, smiling before he heard Max clear his throat, glancing to the side he noticed how Max was not looking at him, 

“So, uh...gins your weakness hm?” He asked, “Is that what you were drinking at Bobby’s birthday bash then?” He teased jumping back just before Yakko could elbow him, 

“I could drink you under the table, don’t forget that Goof” Yakko laughed poking Max’s chest, his eyes lined, leaning in as though he was challenging Max with that statement, Max was not yet drunk enough to simply brush off how close Yakko was in this moment, but he could at least try and distract himself with it by accepting the challenge, 

“oh ya? Why don’t you prove it then? You and me, join in the game of Uno shots?” he asked Flicking Yakkos forehead lightly, sniggering as it got his friend to scrunch his nose in a rather endearing way before leaning away. 

“How many rounds we talkin’ here? And what does the winner get?” he asked rather interested, out of all the party games Yakko loved himself a good round of Uno shots. Seeing as he usually had luck on his side and somehow managed to avoid getting completely hammered by the end of it. 

Watching as Max thought it over for a moment, the good then declared “Best out of 3. and the winner gets the satisfaction of winning?” he suggested which didn’t impress Yakko in the slightest if the look he was getting was anything to go by. 

With a huff Max changed what the winner gets, knowing that Yakko wasn’t the type to just accept the satisfaction of Winning, “Fine. How about loser has to do the winners laundry for 2 weeks?” Max didn’t know that Yakko actually didn’t mind doing laundry but at the same time, 2 weeks of no laundry did sound appealing to the dog, clown hybrid toon so he gave a nod of acceptance. 

“Deal. Text Pj let him know where we are when we're playing, I'll go collect some more players, cool?” he asked offering out a hand as though shaking on a deal. 

Max easily slapped his hand into Yakko’s own giving it a firm shake, “cool, see you in hallway 4? Its quieter there, easier to play?” he suggested earning a nod from Yakko who happily walked off into the crowd, just as they heard the strum of a guitar echo through the room, before the room exploded with noises of excitement. 

Smiling to himself Max quickly took out his phone to text Pj, feeling rather competitive he was excited to show Yakko up, if it was one thing he knew about the topaz pants wearing toon , it's that he was a light weight, an adorable but exhausting to look after light weight, Max was already kissing his laundry duty goodbye for the next two weeks, he had piled it up over the past month, too exhausted to do it himself and now he had already accepted everything would be washed and cleaned thanks to their little bet. Though he was missing one key factor, he would have to look after this drunk Yakko once the game ended. 

On the other side of the room Yakko tapped random toons on the shoulder to tell them about the game, most seemed interested and he even found Dot, Bab’s and Buster, convincing them to join in on a round, Once he had gather enough people for a decent group to play, they scattered to find different bottles of alcohol to take shots of, each having their own preference, Bab’s suggesting that they make the 4th hallway the games floor seemed like a good idea to those that wanted to participate, as the common room was also on that floor, toons ran about gathering cups for beer pong or different cards for strip poker. Tipsy college goers giggled among themselves as they made their way to the 4th floor, their group growing from 8 to around 30 rather quickly, but because other students caught wind of the games floor and wanted to join different games. 

Smiling to himself Yakko chatted away to Buster as they hadn't seen each other in a few days, quickly catching up on things here and there, Yakko mostly teasing the toon on finally getting enough nerve to ask Bab’s out which to no one's surprise went well. 

Soon enough they had found themselves on the 4th floor. Max sitting cross legged against one of the cracked walls, before he perked up at the sound of chatter, flashing a grin when he spotted Yakko and waving the hand that held the Uno cards. 

The game groups easily split up to different areas, setting up their games and teams, the hallway easily came to life, with more curious students appearing from the buzzed atmosphere, However before Yakko could step towards Max an arm covered in a red sleeve of a jock hoodie was slung over his shoulder, 

“So that’s the famous Max you’ve been telling me about?” a low whistle followed “Man you got it bad.” 

The arm belonged to Buster Bunny who had easily noticed the change in his childhood friend’s mood, growing up together in the same company and both being basically being raised by their mentor Bugs, Buster had come to think of Yakko and his siblings as his own brothers and sister, Which made noticing the little changes in Yakko all the more noticeable, from noticing how Yakko attempted to fix his shirt upon landing on the 4th floor, to the dumb grin and flushed cheeks at seeing Max, It was clear to Buster and probably to anyone that knew either of these toons that this was more than a simple ‘friendship’. 

Stuttering followed as Yakko attempted to deny it, not at all in tune with his own emotions quite yet, 

“He’s just a friend! - but... I guess I am interested in him, you could say...” 

It was said quietly, and his thumbs fiddled together, but for now Buster seemed to decide this was an alright answer, if he was honest, he didn’t expect for Yakko to even admit interest to him yet, so he was pleased with this......for now. 

Grinning the rabbit reached out and pushed Yakkos head down brushing past him smoothly, 

“Eh I'm pretty sure it’s more than interest but I won't beat ya for answers yet, have ya told your sibs?” He asked now letting Yakko to lead the way to Max, before the oldest warner shrugged. 

“Wakko learned on Accident and Dot doesn’t know yet” He hummed only to be interrupted by Dot popping her head through the gap between Buster and Yakko’s shoulders “tell me what? That you got a crush on Max Goof?” She asked to which Yakko responded with his frantic gestures once again smooshing a finger to her lips. 

“SHHHHSHHHHHHH he is right there!!” he whispers yelled, gaze glaring yet panicked, “how do you even know! I only figured this out yesterday” he hissed watching as his sister went to bite his finger before he pulled it away just on time. 

“First off keep your Cheeto dust fingers to yourself buddy, and second of all. Theres not a toon on our lot who didn’t know you two were crushing way back since you were kids” she admitted, Yakko opened his mouth to deny it but noticing how all 3 of his friends looked at him he kept his mouth shut sensing that Dot was not done talking. 

“You ran circles around each other even back then! And if you weren't crushing! Max certainty was! You knocked his tooth out in the playground and he still blushed when you helped him up” Babs butted in, Yakko recalled that day, it was before the Animaniacs was even a show, one of the rare times the siblings were taken out of the water tower for some air, but he didn’t remember Max blushing... Besides they were only around 6 at the time. 

“Bab’s that’s not true Max never crushed on me; besides we were kids! An-” his eyes widened when he noticed that they were in arms reach of Max, though he luckily didn’t seem to hear anything, yakko quickly muttered to his group ohGodEveryOneShutUpHeIsCloseenoughToHearu- HELLLLoooooO Max!” 

His gibberish trailing off to one of his old comedy Skits, a nervous Tic he tended to have, though it was cringe worthy to his friends, and earned a facepalm from Bab’s, it at least made the young goof Chuckle, enough to hear a little ‘hyuck’ that was quickly and easily covered by his hand, much to Yakkos dismay, 

“uhm hi?” a brow was raised before he brushed some hair out of his face “So you guys ready to play? Yak you ready to lose? ~” A smirk had fallen enough his lips as Max shuffled the cards between his hands, acting like a magician of sorts, but promptly failing as the cards slipped from his grasp and went everywhere, Groaning Max leaning away from the wall collecting them back up again, the group all took their seats. 

“oh! I believe it’s going to be the other way around Maxxie my boy” Yakko claimed patting Max on the head “trust me you’ll me cleaning my underwear for 2 weeks, not that I think that’s a punishment” he winked “toons would beg to clean my underwear” he sighed dramatically, enjoying the few sniggers that came from those in their circle. 

“Ya you wish Yak, trust me I could tell you guys horror stories of this guy's laundry. I honestly don’t know how he managed some of the sta-” Dot was about spill some embarrassing secret it seemed as Yakko was quick to throw a bag of marshmallows at her face, the black-haired toon was thrown backwards yelping but luckily being caught by Bab’s before she could meet the ground. 

“Not very cute to talk about your brother's underwear Dot kind of creepy if you ask me~” He teased well aware that, that is not what she meant and his point was proven when the marshmallows were fired back at his face, though he managed to dodge it with grace and a smile. 

“Thats NOT! What I was on about and you know it” She huffed arms folding “Just deal the cards Max your ‘boyfriends’ being nasty” 

She stuck out her thounge in a childish manner, but immensely proud of her choice of words seeing her brothers mortified expression, Max was taken about by the term boyfriend for a minute, feeling a bit giddy at being referred to as Yakkos boyfriend, though he knew it was a joke as Yakko was trying to impress someone tonight...speaking of which who was this person? Max had not seen Yakko attempt to talk to anyone since they entered, but then again Max did walk off to get some members to play the game, does that mean- that person was on this floor? 

Max couldn’t help it as his gaze wandered around the room, trying to spot anyone that seemed familiar or seemed to have Yakko’s attention, but right now the only thing that seemed to have yakko’s attention was the bowl of sour patch gummies in his arms. Sighing Max huffed out an amused chuckle before nodding to Dot, 

“right away your highness” Max playfully added, shuffling the cards once more before giving each person 4 cards each, putting the rest in a pile in the middle. 

“now. Who wants to go first? ~”


	5. Chapter 5: Uno shots. part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> same warners as the last chapter, though warning ya'll might hate me by the end of this one XD prepare for slow burn because i accually got into my fanfic writing mood this chapter XD 
> 
> also i feel like the chapters are getting longer every time i update weirdly enough

CHAPTER 5 UNO SHOTS PART 2 

It only took 3 rounds before everyone in the circle was a decent amount of tipsy or swaying on their spots, those who knew when to stop drinking dropped out of the round, pushing themselves off the ground and stating that they were off to try something new or just decided to check out the band. 

right now, it was a draw for Max and Yakko who both somehow found themselves closer together as the rounds went on, starting off with a good amount of distance between themselves and now sitting knees touching, cross-legged beside one another. Max feeling only a slight buzz from the alcohol while Yakko already had a pretty pink flush across his cheeks, though those around them had yet to decide if it was because of the alcohol or from the toon realizing how close he was to Maxamillion Goof. 

The only original players of the game that were left was Max, Yakko and Dot, though as the 4th round came to a close with Dot slapping her final card down with a loud “HAH! UNO!” and downing the pink liquid in her shot glass, she stood up and dusted her dress down, 

“It’s been nice playing with you guys and all but I gotta get going, meeting with Cassidy in 10, you sure you still don’t wanna meet her Maxxie? ~ I'm telling’ ya! You'd like her” She hummed taking a quick glance to her brother, taking delight in his frown. 

Though his frown was quickly replaced with pursed lips and wide eyes as Max leaned against him shaking his head, Yakkos ears twitched slightly as he looked to the boy beside him. 

“Nah I'm good Dot, can't go leaving this dweeb on his own, now can I?” His tone was warm and, on the word, ‘dweeb’ he nudged the Eldest Warner, giving him a look that Dot had only seen in those cringy Romcom's she had watched on Netflix, a look of absolutely being smitten. But of course, Yakko didn’t pick up on this look and instead opted more shoving Max playfully to the side, 

“this ‘dweeb’ can look after himself just fine Maxamillion, and don’t think I'll let ya see my cards by leaning on me! A cheap tactic by the way” he clicked his thounge though he was only mocking upset, which was made obvious by the small thumps his tail gave the carpet behind him, and the smile curving its way onto his lips, watching as Max landed on the ground with muffled laughter. 

There was only so much of this obvious and disgustingly open flirting that Dot could take so with hands on her hips, the youngest Warner clicked her thounge, 

“well, you boys enjoy your date night, Max make sure my brother doesn’t drink himself to death” all she gained in response was some remanence of a promise from Max as the goof had his eyes trained on the sniggering Yakko who was currently attempting to shuffle the cards, though it looked more like a newly hatched penguin using their flippers for the first time and failing. Shaking her head Dot muttered something to herself before turning on her heels and walking to the door. 

Now all that was left was Max and Yakko, They fell into a comfortable silence as Yakko attempted to shuffle the cards, his thounge sticking out of his mouth in concentration, He hadn't done this in quite a while he was almost certain he had lost his flair for it, and just as all hoped seemed lost and he gave out a huff, a small hum of a chuckle broke him from his concentration and he looked up to see Max lying on the ground now, watching him from the side. 

“’Ey what's so funny? Ya know this is harder than it looks” Yakko complained, bringing a hand up he ran it through the short bit of hair he had on his head, glaring down to the colorful cards in hand, “what round is this anyway?” He asked, his mind already in a jumble from the amount of times they had to restart the game, from either a new player joining or something going wrong. 

With a shake of his head Max pushed himself up, having gone through a total of 6 shots, he was decently buzzed to have some confidence but not yet tipsy or drunk, just felt relaxed. “Round 4, and it's not that hard, here look I'll show you” Sighing Max stretched till he heard a bone crack, groaning in relief from the built up tention being expelled from his body, the youth then processed to sit up and scoot his way over till he was behind Yakko, legs either side of the other toon, incasing him with-in the confides of Max’s space. 

Yakko who previously was only sitting peacefully in his own frustration, now froze up, his pink cheeks becoming all the more obvious now, as the blush danced over his snout. His legs staying crisscrossed and shoulders pushing up to his ears in surprise, Unknowingly he began to hold his breath, grip tightening on the cards in his hands, before he attempted a glance back to Max, who honestly seemed unbothered by this predicament. 

Before he knew what was happening Yakko felt Max’s arms slide around him before his hands were over Yakkos own, jumping in surprise, The Warner began to worry if his red hooded friend could hear the pounding his chest, praying to whatever animator created him, that he wouldn’t start getting those toony urges to outright showcase his feelings then and there, Yakko took a deep breath and decided to focus on the cards, even if it was hard to do with such a distraction, especially when he felt Max lean over his shoulder, Max was only doing this to help after all, Yakko was struggling and this was probably the easiest way to show him how to do it. 

“Here, Watch, put them into my hand” he instructed, Yakko did as he was asked placing the pile into one of Max’s hands before placing his own hands on his lap, fingers pinching at his pants leg or feeling the fabric in a nervous sort of way, though his eyes stayed trained on the others hands, Max split the stack in half and holding one palm up began to drop the cards into the other half of the pile, slicing and dicing the paper between each other. 

“Do you see that Yakko? Remember to keep taking different sections to shuffle otherwise you’ll just have a backwards deck with no changes” He hummed, voice seeming to grow quiter the more he leaned over Yakkos shoulders. 

“Want to try?” he asked taking a quick glance to meet Yakkos gaze and when their eyes met, Yakko was the first to look away, quickly nodding he took the deck back, 

“S-sure thing dude! Just watch out ya might get a paper cut when one of these goes flying~” there was a playful nudge to Max’s stomach before Yakko attempted to copy Max’s shuffling, after a slow start and some card drops, he managed to do it with some ease, a smile slowly finding its way to his lips, as his eyes sparked with excitement, 

“Look Max! I got it! See that! Not even dropping one!!” The studio toon exclaimed with eagerness, lifting his hands up a little to show Max better, who currently had his chin placed on Yakkos shoulder, giving a small laugh at the others elation over such a simple trick, 

“I see that, good job! Honestly you might get better than me at this p-” It seemed to happen suddenly, Max raised his head head to give the eager card shuffler some space, but at the same time Yakko turned his head to the side, a wide smile on his face, one of his award winning ‘I got it!’ smiles, but for a split second, their eyes met, and all seemed to slow, with-in their gaze they seemed to catch sometime on the others face that neither got the chance to be....admiration. Complete and other admiration and infatuation. 

For you see the young Goof, actually wasn’t thinking when he took his position behind Yakko, he honestly thought it would be the easiest way to teach him, but now that he was here, he couldn’t help but notice that perhaps subconsciously he only wanted to be closer to his crush, and now here he was so close to hugging him but also not quite, from here he could smell that cologne better, if he moved just a little he could brush against Yakkos neck, Not only that but if it wasn’t for the gloves, he would have been holding Yakko’s hands earlier, but now in this moment he seemed to forget about whatever it was he could of done, because only right now did it suddenly feel like they were both on the same page for once. 

There was something itching his brain, trying to push him forward, but for what? Max couldn’t figure out, and neither could Yakko, but there was one thing that both were thinking in this exact moment. 

I want to kiss him. 

With their gaze only daring to leave each other's eyes in order to take a look to the object of their attraction for this brief moment, each other's lips, both seemed to forget that they were sitting on the dirty carpet of some 4th floor hallway of a college dormitory. 

Yakkos hands lowered in this second, and some cards slipped to the floor, though he didn’t look to them he did mutter a soft “They fell...” To which Max responded to his hand falling over one of Yakkos, looking back to meet his eyes, both completely enamored in the reflections each other's peepers showed. 

“It’s..alright” 

Both began to lean in, noticing the small little details, such as the small hitch of breath Max seemed to take, or the twitch yakkos tail seemed to give, the less then comfortable position didn’t stop them, As Yakko leaned back into Max, his head tilting back as Max leaned down, there was nothing but the sounds of blood rushing to ears and the feeling of over whelming readiness, they went closer and closer, their noses touched and next was- 

….. 

Max’s phone rang, the atmosphere was quickly demolished as they both seemed to snap out of whatever mood, they had found themselves in, quickly jumping away from each other in the suddenly panic. Their lips never touched. 

And so Yakko quickly crawled his way out of Max’s legs and Max scrambled around to find his phone quickly, his whole face a flurry of red, feeling a mixture of things from, embarrassment to frustration and annoyance, though the annoyance wasn’t pointed towards Yakko, no on the contrary it was pointed towards whoever interrupted the moment, Pinching the bridge of his nose, Max closed his eyes and furrowed his brows once he found his phone, and without a second thought answered it, his tone coming out tired and agitated, 

“Hello?” 

Beside him Yakko sat, Gaze darting about the room, his leg hand rubbed his right arm, and his lips pursed together, his mind was racing now as he tried to piece together what. Actually happened, he may have been a little buzzed but that shock sure was enough to nearly sober him up, had he and Max almost-...no- they couldn’t have, surely, he just read the situation wrong, there's no way that they would have kissed, even if they did it would have been the heat of the moment, ya- that would have been it, hey there both college students, there's alcohol and they are toons on top of that, randomness is their thing. The mood was just- right for that sort of thing... but. He did have to grind his teeth as he heard Max answering the phone, his arms folding as he glared towards the goof, who the hell had rang. 

“AH! Max buddy! I'm outside the building could you open the door? Its closed I don’t have a key” Yakko recognized the voice but he couldn’t place it on who, tilting his head he watched as the harsh lines on Max’s face soften and he took in a breath, no longer seeming as annoyed. 

“Sure, thing Pj, just give a sec” putting his hand over the speaker, Max looked to Yakko, heart seeming to skip two beats as he did so, “Its uh- PJ, I'm going to let him in, you good here while I do that?” He asked, eyes darting to and from his uno shots partner in a sheepish manner. 

That’s when if clicked for Yakko, oh ya! PJ one of Max’s friends he was going to meet him tonight, still in a little bit of a daze Yakko gave a silent nod, which was odd for the toon, never been one to not speak, he could only watch as Max stood up from his place with a small stumble, 

“Uh- Good! Great! I-” he began to walk backwards almost tripping a few times before he bumped into the door frame, “will see you in 5! Right?” he was giving Yakko an awkward thumbs up, a forced smile plastered on his face. “right.. “ and with that Max was out the door and running down the stairs. Yakko stared for a moment but when he knew Max was gone, an exhale left him and he reached for an untouched shot, quickly downing it, letting whatever liquid it was burn his throat in the process. 

“God-” he mummered dropping his head and shaking it, before a hand came up and scratched his ear, a dry laugh slipping past his lips before his head dropped into his hands “I'm a disaster...”


	6. Explaination chapter (the world, warners past and questions)

Hey guys so while reveiwing my chapters I realised the world doesnt really make much sense, and i guess thats what i get for writing at 3am so i decided to just quickly explain what sort of universe this is. 

First off as you probualy guessed yet the animaniacs was still a show in this world as was all the other toons shows.  
BUT! something that may of confused a few people is how i refused to the aging process.   
So i shall explain it better here, basically,   
Toons age like normal kids in this world, they start off as kids drawn for a parents, and what ever age they were drawn as they start aging from there, However i changed a few things up so that in this world Yakko, Wakko and Dot did once have parents, yakko was drawn as a 4 year old, Wakko was drawn as 3 year old and Dot was drawn as a 1 year old, an accident happend with their parents in toon town and DIP might of been involved. 

I will be using referance to who framed rodger rabbit but only losely, The Warner siblings were then handed over to their parents company as guardians.  
A toon can preserve their age by feeling young at heart, the more older they feel and are, the older they can make their apperance, The warner siblings were orphaned when Yakko was around 6, this was the time they were put into the water tower as there was no room on the lot for kids and no one wanted to take them.

They were in the water tower for 60 yearss, which slowed their growth as they couldnt tell what age they were suppose to be , not knowing the year. and seeing as toons dont age like normal Humans they mostly ignore age's for the most part.   
The Warners managed to become choldstars of their own show called the animaniacs, I treat their shows like parts the toons acted, which is why mandy is refurred to as a childstar. 

its sort of like an actor au. 

Once their contracts were up, the siblings decided they wanted to try out living like normal kids\toons for a change, so they joined in on the final year at acme university, from tiny toons. before going onto college which is where Yakko meets Max again. 

Bugs didnt raise or adopt the warners or buster, but he did act like a mentor to them and looked out for them, which is why Buster mentions Bigs being like their dad and why he seens the Warners like his own adopted siblings of sorts. 

I think that covers everything but if there is anything that confuses you about this fic please comment and i will do my best to answer your questions.


	7. Chapter 6: busted nose and a mistake done right.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> warning! in this chapter there is a breif descprion as what could be seen as a panic attack, smoking, drinking and some minor violence, veiwer discretion is advised.   
> This chapter may be longer then the others as there is a main plot point introduced, so i did my best to finish the party in this chapter.

CHAPTER 6 

The night dragged on without much said on the previous matter, in fact nothing at all was uttered about the predicament during the game of Uno, The bet and game long forgotten, with nothing more than sneaky glances and one sided stares for the good part of an hour, luckily PJ was there with a woman by the name of Beret that he had met at one of those hipster, poet cafes in first year, If Yakko heard the story correctly, apparently she helped them get rid of some unwanted Gamma recruitment people, so they filled in the air where there would be silence until Max and Yakko had drank enough to blur the memory of earlier that night. 

Around an hour and a half later both had found themselves, snuggly packed into the room where the band was performing, Yakko leaning, back against the wall where he could watch Wakko beat the drums to the beat, his own foot tapping against the ground, and a red cup to his lips, ideally sipping at whatever it was that was in his cup, While Max was across the room having spotted an old friend of his, Roxanne, Yakko believed her name to be. 

A pretty thing that PJ made Yakko aware is actually Max’s ex from high school, It scratched the Warner in the wrong place, as he believed them to be nothing more than co-stars, the alcohol certainty didn’t help him rationalize his thoughts, as all he could notice while watching them, is how relaxed Max seemed in her presence, how close they appeared, even though Yakko was aware that they were nothing but friends now, there was still this burning sensation in the pit of his stomach that wouldn’t quite go away, and before he knew it there was nothing more to drink from his cup. 

Glancing down to it he frowned, wondering if he should go for another but when he stumbled attempting to walk away from the wall, Yakko decided against it, especially when the nausea was already kicking it, shaking his head Yakko wondered if he needed some air, though he knew air only tended to quicken the drunken effects of alcohol. In this moment he was also itching for a cigarette, a rare habit of his, something he only tended to do in the most stressful or drunken times. Now was one of those times. Though he was aware of how his siblings hated this habit, he couldn’t help it, if he didn’t have one now he would surely combust with the sound of Roxannes laughter, though he was sure she was a sweet girl, right now he couldn’t bring himself to greet her, So with the cup down thrown into a black rubbish bag, Yakko pushed his way through the crowded room, avoiding Max’s path as he did so, only now realizing how stuffy the room was, how loud everything is, he just wanted out- a girl laughing beside him suddenly sound ear bleedingly loud, the music from the speakers deafen, he could feel absolutely every unwelcome texture, from the rub of his jeans against his legs to the accidental bump of shoulders, blood rushed to his ears and all he knew is he wanted out! 

It was reasons like these that Yakko was hesitant to attend these parties, one moment he was fine and the next he felt like he was drowning, it wasn’t at every party just some, but he never knew when moment’s like these would occur and he hated, he hated not being in control of them. It always started as something small yet could never stay that way. 

Quickly he made his way out of the room, moving down the stairs with a small stagger, before finding himself hit in the face with a whip of cold air, and just like that, his nerves settled, the once now music now nothing but a slight buzz in the background, not a single soul could be seen outside, bar from the occasional few that seemed to be returning home early. Sighing a breath escaped him that he didn’t know he was holding in. 

With another deep breath, Yakko stretched, hands above his head swiftly moving forward to a electricity box that was planted in the ground only a few steps away from the apartment building, taking a seat on it, and resting his left heel on top of his right thigh, Yakko looked to his shaking hands for a moment, before reaching into his jean pocket and pulling out a blue rectangle box, flicking them open he pulled out one of the long white sticks from it, and placed it in his mouth like second nature before fishing back into his pocket, feeling around but when he couldn’t feel anything his brows furrowed, now moving to the other one he muttered a quite “shit-” unable to find what his was looking for, but luckily he wouldn’t be left without as a unfamiliar voice spoke up from behind him. 

“need a light?” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Meanwhile Back with Max, The goof was looking around, standing on his toes in an attempt to see over heads. He had been distracted with the arrival of Roxanne whom of which he hadn't seen in Months due to her being in a university hours away, Max had forgotten about Yakko momentarily in the heat of catching up, though as the conversation pushed back and forth a sudden question from Roxanne brought his mind back to the receiver of his affections. 

“So Max who’s this Yakko you’ve been texting me about? Is he here?” she bounced up on her toes attempting to look beyond the crowd. 

That is when Max perked up and suddenly remembered the person he came here with tonight, “Oh right! Ya he’s-” 

Max quickly turned towards the wall he remembered his friend being at before pausing in his movements no longer seeing him there, “Huh.. Well he is around here somewhere..” That is when he attempted to see over the crowd, but not seeing him anywhere Max began to worry a little and took out his phone, quickly sending a text. 

Max 11:53pm: Hey Yak you still here? 

The message went unseen for 2 solid minutes, the whole time Max’s finger tapped impatiently against the side of his phone, watching the textbox for a moment before looking to Roxanne and offering a smile, 

“Sorry Roxxie, I should go find him, I'll be back when I do alright?” He asked already taking a few steps back, Roxanne gave a nod in response and grinned, 

“Oh course! But I better meet him before the nights out, you talked about him enough Max it’s only fair I meet this amazing toon” She teased enjoying how red Max appeared to become, Though the young goof was now regretting his late night talks with Roxanne about his little crush right about now. 

“Ya, ya enjoy catching up with PJ! I wont be long” He promised and made his way through the crowd with determination, Checking the hallway and each room, though he unfortuealy stumbled upon a....busy couple that forgot to lock a room. Squeaking out a quick “SORRY!” before darting back out of the room, on his way to the door he bumped into the one and only Dot Warner once again, honestly this girl just seemed to be everywhere, 

“Oh! Dot! Did you see Yakko by chance? I lost him” He asked, gaze darting between Dot and the person she was previously talking to, a person he immediately recognized as Cassidy, the cat toon, who right now was nervously shuffling on her feet, hair twirled around her finger and gaze to the ground with a shy blush, refusing to meet Max’s gaze, Knowing that this girl had a crush on him made Max feel honestly rather flattered, but strangely enough it didn’t make him feel giddy like it usually did. 

Dot took a glance to Max before nodding, “Ya I saw him leave a little bit ago, I called out to him but I don’t think he heard me, figured he went out for air” She hummed before quickly looking back to Cassidy, she seemed to be about to say something but Max cut in quickly seeing as he was more focused on checking up on Yakko right now, seeing as he was aware of Yakko’s distaste for most parties. 

“Thanks Dot! Sorry Cassidy we can talk another time I gotta find Yakko now, see you!” and with that he made a straight line for a door, quickening his pace down the stairs, Max reached for the door and pushing it open was hit with the same air that previously shook Yakko from his worries. Max took a moment as a sudden wave of dizziness washed over him, though he was fine mere seconds later, he apricated the sudden change of atmosphere for awhile before remembering what he was out for, his gaze quickly looked around before he spotted who he was looking for. Lighting up for a moment and taking a few steps closer before he realized his friend was in company. 

It was darker further away from the building so Max couldn’t quite tell who it was yet, but he knew whoever it was, seemed to be making friendly chatter with Yakko, who right now was also...Smoking...smoking. Max didn’t know that Yakko smoked. 

“Yakko!” he called out ignoring this new information he had learned in favor of the relief he felt at seeing that his friend was well. 

Surprised eyes looked over from the darkness, widening before a smile fell upon his lips and a hand raised in the air to wave him over, 

“Hiya Maxxie! Thought I’s get some air, you know its way to crowded in there” He mused blowing some smoke into the cool night air, watching it dance like a silk caught in a wind. 

“what brings ya out here?” The eldest Warner asked, not that he was upset, no on the contrary he was happy to see Max, happy that it appeared that Max was looking for him. 

Max’s eyes were souly set on Yakko as he now stood by him, 

“I texted and you didn’t respond, got worried so I just thought I would come find you” he almost seemed embarrasst by admitting to this, a hand scratching the back of his neck with the other placed in his jeans pocket. 

It seemed as though Yakko was preparing some witty and teasing response if the glint in his eyes had anything to say about it, and the sharp grin, though he didn’t get the chance to as a terribly familiar voice to Max spoke up from the darkness. 

“Ahh Maxamillion Goof, old buddy, old pal, It seems we meet again” The tone was casual yet held a deeper undertone and Max could not help but tense up when he heard it, turning towards the figure that was cloaked by the shadows, nothing but his outline and the light of a cigarette to make his appearance known. 

“Bradley Uppercrust.” Max’s tone was clipped but held no malice, if anything it sounded more tired, his arms instantly folding over his chest as he stepped closer to Yakko, who looked up to max from his seat. 

“Ya know this guy Max?” He asked dropping the excess ash from his cigarette on the ground, eyes moving between Max and the new acquaintance he had made only moments prior. 

Max gave a nod, “Ya its one of those Gamma dudes PJ mentioned earlier, remember how I told ya about last year's X-games? Well that’s the guy that lost.” He admitted without any mercy, It took Yakkos brain awhile to recall the story but when he did he gave a hum of aknowelment. 

However Bradley let out a laugh “Come on Max that’s all in the past right? No need to bring it up, I was just chatting to your good friend Yakko here~” he claimed, walking towards them and throwing an arm around Yakkos shoulder, “he needed a light so I offered him one” he hummed holding up the lighter as proof, However Max still appeared unimpressed, He may of long forgiven Bradely but that still didn’t mean he was alright with being in his presence or him being left alone with Yakko or any of his friends for that matter, so without so much as a second thought he removed Bradelys arm from Yakkos shoulder and offered his friend a hand up. 

“Thats great and all Bradely but if you don’t mind his sister wanted to see him about something” It was a simple lie, but probualy the only thing that would easily get Yakko away without any hastle, though of course nothing could be easy with Bradley around, esspeically not when he stopped Yakko from getting up by putting a hand on his shoulder, 

“come now Max surely that can wait? We were having such a good time weren't we Yakko?” he asked looking down to the green sweatered toon, If Max knew his enemy as well as he thought then he knew that look in Bradleys eyes only ment trouble, it was the look he usual got whenever he was attempting to throw Max off balance, to challenge him, It was a look that said, you want this thing? Well then, I want it too, and if there was anything that grinded max’s gears it was the fact that he had given that look to Yakko. 

However, Max did not have to step in as Yakko could push Bradleys hand off himself, 

“Sorry dude but if my sister needs me, I can't keep her waitin’ we can talk another time. “ Yakko answered, pushing himself up from the metal box with help from Max’s arm, “thanks for the light by the way” with that said Yakko pushed the bud of the cigarette onto the place where he was previously sitting, twisting it to put out the light fully before flicking the cigarette away. 

Seeing as Yakko was getting away Bradley quickly jumped in with, “AH!- surely you can spare a moment for your phone number right? It would be nice to...keep in contact?~” he got weirdly close at the suggestion of swapping numbers, a gesture that made Yakko coil back towards Max. 

“ehhhhhhh sure thing buddy but I don’t have my phone on me, so another time?” he suggested, one of his classics dragged out eh’s making its way from his lips, alerting Max that Yakko was just as uncomfortable in this situation as he was, though he was hiding it well. 

Bradley seemed to act dishearten for a moment, though it was very clear by his clenching his he was suppressing some sort of agitation, “of course! ~ very well then, enjoy your night and give your sister my wishes~ I shall excuse myself” with that he stepped into the shadows once more and steps could be heard echoing further away. 

Max and Yakko stared for a moment, before looking to each other, Max being the first to attempt conversation and clear his throat, 

“So... did you always smoke?” He asked hoping to avoid making it obvious that he was trying to get Yakko away from Bradely. 

“Depends, do you always lie?” was Yakkos response, his arms folding as he leaned forward a bit, giving Max that very judgmental look, it was enough to make Max choke on his own breath “I don’t know what you mean by that-” he claimed “lets head back inside alright?” he suggested ready to leave, only to be stopped by Yakko holding his hoodie. 

“Dot’s not looking for me is she?” He asked, though instead of judgement he seemed more like a cat that got the cream, a wicked grin on his lips with a look that read ‘i caught you red handed’ plasterd on his face. 

Max knew that try as he might there would be no way for him to continue to lie his way out of this one, 

“I- no... no she's not, how did you-?” his voice trailed off, but the question was obvious with the quizzical look he gave to the shorter, who in response merely rocked on his heels, a pleased hum escaping his. 

“you do this thing when ya lie ya know? Your nose twitches~” lifting a hand Yakko booped the taller nose, feeling quite content with himself, “don't blame ya though man, you and Mister ‘i bought a yaut last summer’ not on good terms?” he asked, watching as Max shook out his hair, relishing in the coldness of the outside against his hot skin , still burning from the stuffy building. 

“you have noooo idea, long story though you don’t want to hear it. Not tonight at least” He added in the last part with a shrug, It had been along night and both had far too much alcohol to make sense of the complicated story, let alone remember it. Though as he was looking up at the dark sky Max suddenly could not help but ask “wait- if you knew I was lying why did you go with it?” he asked, curious on what would bring Yakko to run with the lie and not stay there talking to Bradely, he looked down to him curiously awaiting an answer. 

“Well, I figured ya had some reason not to like him, It’s not like you to want to leave a conversation so I trusted you had some reason for doing it, youre my friend Max, not him, who ever you trust I trust” he shrugged. 

The simple statement was enough to stun the young toon for a moment, that Yakko trusted him enough to disregard someone that Max wasn’t fond of, despite his own interactions, it brough a smile to his face which ultimately was the cause of Yakko looking away quickly. 

Though Max was unsure of what to say in response he could only seem to let out a quick “heh” in admiration, till he found himself asking “so, do you want to head back in?” his head gesturing towards the door. 

Yakko thought about it for a moment before shaking his head, “nah, I much prefer it out here, though, I don’t want to go home quite yet, “ he mused pulling out a bottle from seemingly nowhere, causing his fellow college student to stare in awe before shaking his head. 

“where do you pull these things from Yakko Warner, what is your secret?” he asked in amusement, eyes sparkling as he watched Yakko un screw the lid of the bottle and give a shrug with a lazy little smile. “Wouldn't you like to know Maxamillion Goof~ but if you knew I'd have ta kill ya” he joked taking a quickly swing from the bottle much to Max’s delight. 

However the banter was cut short as Yakko suddenly seemed to realise osmething, his head perking up and his hand going to a back pocket as he handed the bottle to Max, “Ah- wait a minute Gotta call Dottie and Wak, cant get too drunk if im walking them home-” He admitted being the ever so responsiable brother, Max simply responsed with a cheeky threat“Ooo calling her Dottie? Careful I don’t tell her~” taking a quick swing of the bottle himself, To which Yakko swiftly gave his leg a little kick, not enough to hirt though, “You do and I promise your knees will be backwards, you heard nothing Max” he warned with a wagging finger, a snort made its way past Max’s lips watching as Yakko scrolled through his phone to find their numbers, first finding Wakkos he rang, it took a moment but soon Wakkos voice was heard loud and clear through the speaker, 

“What's cool bro?” there seemed to be barely any background noise which signified Wakko either went to a quiter room or was no longer at the party. 

“Hey Wak, is everything alright? You're still at the party aren't you?” he asked , placing the phone on speaker phone right now as he always found without it the phone was too quite. 

“All’s good, and the band and I are just after packin’ up Yak, getting into a taxi as we speak, I asked Dot but she wanted to stay a little while longer” Was his brother response, it was a relief to him that Wakko was getting home just fine, so he seemed to relax a little. 

“that's good, text me when your home, love ya sib be safe” 

“love ya too Yak, see ya later” with that the call ended, and it was onto the next one, it took Dot a little bit longer to answer her phone, which made sense seeing as she was still in the party. But when she eventually did, the music in the background was dulled down, making it obvious she was away from it. 

“Hiya Yak! Cheaking up on me?” she asked, already knowing what this call was about to which Yakko nodded despite Dot not being able to see it, which Max found adorable though he wouldn’t admit it outloud in this current situation. 

“Ya, Just wondering when you think you’ll be ready to leave, Max and I are out here, just cheaking if you need to be walked home” he asked, his tone soft as it was with Wakko, nothing but care in his voice. It made Max watch with facination as he wondered how someone like Yakko, could be two completely different people depending on who he was talking to, it was always so astonishing. 

“No! Im all good Max! Buster and Dizzy is walking Bab’s, Shirley and I back to the sority house in a moment, He has a car and since he only took apple juice tonight its safe to drive, I promise” she swore, knowing exactly what questions her brother would be asking before quickly adding in, “And! I’ll make sure to tell ya when I get there, I’ll be safe! Now I gotta go! Shirleys calling me- love ya bro! Bye!” her words spread up as she rushed to finish the call to get back to what ever she was doing, And Yakko knowing what Dot was like simply let her hang up just as quickly as she said bye, letting out a fond sigh he looked to Max, 

“looks like I got ya to myself Maxxie-boy, need to talk to anyone?...that uh. Roxanne perhaps?” he asked though with a bit of hesitance. His hands pushing together in an almost awkward gesture, to which Max took notice of though he did not think much of it and instead shook his head, 

“no! It's fine I'll just text her, she's in town for the next 2 weeks, her course is on a break so I'll just tell her something came up” he stumbled out, refusing to admit that he simply didn’t want to leave Yakko alone again to go in and say bye to his friends, telling Roxxie to let Pj know that he was leaving with Yakko tonight, though however he phrased it must have been picked up wrong as he got a winky face in return, nearly dropping the phone from the realization that he phrased it in such a crude way, Max frantically tried to explain himself before enviedably giving up and sliding the phone into his back pocket. 

“see? All good man.” He hummed. 

Yakko watched as Max texted Roxanne, wondering what they could have been saying when he witnessed Max having such a strong reaction to it, Watching as his friends cheeks turned a vibrant red, Max reached forward and took the bottle from Max’s hands, hoping to wash away the sour taste in his mouth with the bitter substance. He looked towards the door of the place before asking 

“Hey ya mind if we wait till Dot comes out? After watchin her punch that creep earlier I just wanna make sure she gets out safe, ya know?” he asked, eyes traveling back to his companion, though he was sure Dot could handle herself, he couldn’t help but feel on edge as he didn’t know what happened to Jackson after that, he should surely be recovered by now but that is what was worrying Yakko. It was also bothering him that he didn’t yet know what it was that Jackson did to get such a punch from Dot, Yakko knew his sister enough to know that unless it was a gag she tended to stay out of violence with fist, much more preferring to use her words. 

Max noticed his friends worried exterior and offered a smile, ruffling Yakkos hair affectionately, “Sure thing buddy! But ya sure you don’t want to go yet? Didn’t you want to catch some lucky lady or dudes attention tonight~” he asked, wiggling his brows and nudging Yakkos side, this earned a confused look from the Warner before he laughed now seeming to remember what Max was talking about, 

“Nah its fine! Besides, I'm pretty sure I got HIS attention already so I'm fine” he hummed giving Max a sneaky glance that should have been telling, but instead it only made the other wonder, and feel rather hurt that Yakko actually was looking to catch someone's attention tonight. Though he attempted to drown those sorrows away with another swing from the bottle, whatever it was tasted so awful without anything mixed with it, far too strong and nail varnish remover like, but that was fine for now, they were looking for a buzz, not for a tasty beverage. 

(Warning up ahead there is mentions of attempted sexual assault and Gay slurs. Also some violence (luckily on yakkos part ) If that upsets you please feel free to skip this part) 

They stayed there like that for a while, sitting on the ground, passing the bottle between them and chatting, before they finally spotted the familiar bouncy feeling exit the building, a smile on her face as she chatted happily with her friends, walking to the carpark, Yakko kept an eye on her, seeming at ease as all was going smoothly, that was till he spotted an ominous figure peeking out from behind one of the buildings, seeming to shield it’s self as Dot and her friends walked by, Squinting Yakko pulled himself to his feet. 

“Max..” He mummered quickly. “Come with me for a moment but be quite..” he warned, to which the good who had seen nothing looked curiously at upon hearing the request, but with no objections he stood dusting down his knees, and followed Yakko, who kept his eyes in the distance, no longer focusing on Dot who was climbing into Busters beat up red car, but instead on something that Max could not see.... It made Max feel apprehensive. 

They snuck along the concreate and just as they were under a street light, Yakko took Max’s hand as he attempted to continue along the path, shaking his head, Yakko pointed towards the small alleyway between the buildings, raising a finger to his lips in a shushing motion, Yakko lead the way behind the dorm buildings, all the way down till they reached the third ally, it was then that Max looked up and realized just what Yakko had been so seriously at, there at the other end of the ally crouching behind a trash bin was a shadow... Max frowned, and looked to Yakko, who seemed to be staring hard at this figure, the figure had yet to notice them, but just as the cars headlights turned on and it reversed out of the carpark the shadow made a move to leave only to be stopped by Yakko speaking. 

“what ya doin’ there buddy? Don’t ya know creeping around allyways isnt a good look. “ despite the amusing comment, his tone was anything but, no instead it was dry and serious, his gaze never once leaving this figure that suddenly jumped, and swiftly turned. The figure seemed to think it could make a dash for it before Yakko made another announcement. 

“I'm sure the students would love an email warning them about a shady person in the alleys, right?...Jackson.” That is what made the figure stop all attempts of escape, it moved out of the shadows towards them down, and thanks to the lighting from apartment windows, Max could now see clearly who they were dealing with... Jackson Bonraf. The exact same creep from earlier that Dot punched in the stomach. 

A laugh left the new comers' lips, as they curved into a wicked smile, sharp teeth on display, 

“Well if it isn't Yakko Warner, mind telling me what you're doing an alley? Seems awfully hypocritical of you to judge me for being in one if you are to?” he asked, his tone dripping in vile and sinister intent. 

Tention was growing in the air of this small ally, and Max could feel it all the more when he felt Yakko grip his hand tighter. 

“Well unlike you I wasn’t punched in the stomach by a lady only 2 hours ago. A lady that just so happened to walk by moments ago. “his shoulders were tense and Max could tell, just by Yakkos stance alone that he was ready to a fight. It was a strange thing to see, as Max was sure in all the years that he had known of Yakko and in the 2 months that they were friends, he can't think of a single instance where anyone ever mentioned Yakko being the fighting type. 

Jackson and Yakko seemed to be having a stare down in this very moment. The eldest Warners eyes seeming to burn with protective instinct, while his oponants burned with destructive intent. Max didn’t know what was more unsettling, the fact that they went to college would such a creep of a man, or the fact that said creep was now staring them down in an ally. The silence was finally broken when the serpent decided to speak. 

“heh you're that Bitches brother aren't ya? What are ya tryin’ to do? Play hero?” 

It took all of Yakkos restraint not to make the first move at that comment, He could let allot of things slide but talking bad about his siblings was not one of them, the alcohol in his system surely did not help his racing heart. A fist clenching at his side, as he went to let go of Max’s hand but luckily, Max held it again, pulling him back, acting as a sort of anchor in this moment. With a deep breath Yakko let out 

“No. I'm ‘Dots’ brother. I'm starting to think now that my sister had a solid reason for punching you the way she did, wish she did more to be honest” he growled out, watching as this bastard slid closer to them, his eyes glancing down to where Max held Yakkos hand. 

“Tch. I didn’t do anythin’ another toon wouldn’t of done, though I guess you wouldn’t get it seein’ as you're one of those ...sissys” he hissed back, though his cruel smile stayed in place, “only real men know what its like to need a little....extra help getting' a lay. Pitty she found out my tactic before it worked though” he mused coming close to Yakkos face, hatred burning in his eyes. 

Max had to place a hand on Yakkos shoulder, holding him back now, he couldn’t let Yakko throw the first punch, no, not without this toon admitting to what he done first, In the right or in the wrong, the first punch thrown was always at a disadvantage, grinding his teeth together Max watched on as he had to keep Yakko back from doing something they both wanted to do in the moment. 

Yakkos expression was stern, not once wavering away from this repulsive, sorry excuse of a man. His Jaw click as he asked in a slow and threatening tone. 

“What. Did . You. Try. And. Do. “ 

They were close now, close enough that Yak could smell the horrid vodka on Jacksons breath, Silence over took the alley, as Jackson stared, a tight-lipped smile in place, before it stretched out, show casing a row of sharp teeth, 

“well. Since you asked so nicely, I'll tell ya. I slipped her a little something” he hummed, Max watched as the rage over took the smaller toon he was holding, it took everything in Max to not let his friend go, as he himself was floored by Jackson flat out admitting to what he attempted, as though he was proud of it. It was sickening. Yakkos shoulders were shaking. 

“Not just her, one of her friends too, though this lil cunt figured it out and smacked the drink out of her hand before she could even get a taste” clicking his thounge Jackson leaned away, “ Shouldn’t get involved in other peoples bussiness she shouldn’t. Stupid bitch, but hey that’s what you get when a-” he grinned and reached out “pillow-biter tries to be a father hm?” he flicked Yakkos forehead. “Thought I'd give her some pay back but out she came with a gaggle of her little friend tch” 

It was the straw that broke the camels back, In a single instant Max let go of Yakko, and with his arm Pulled back Yakko went straight in for a kill, a solid punch landing perfectly on target, square to Jacksons nose, sending him tumbling backwards, 

“You- DRUGGED THEM!?” Yakko yelled, honestly not caring if anyone heard them, he was breathing heavily and honestly fuming, Max very much on Yakkos side, he didn’t realize his own fist was shaking till he looked down. But this wasn’t his fight to throw a punch in until Jackson threw one back. However, he did notice that red and blue lights seemed to be flashing in the distance, they were getting closer, Max automatically assumed that it was because of the party but one look up made him think otherwise, right above them on one of the balcony's a small group was huddled looking down, a phone in their hands. 

Jackson who was gripping his now broken nose, let out a loud cackeling laugh, “YEP AND I WOULD DO IT AGAIN!!” he laughed despite the blood dripping down into his mouth, causing Yakko to launch himself forward throwing another punch, “YOU BASTARD- YOU DISGUSTING, VILE- “ Yakkos insults were tuned out as one of the girls shouted down to Max from the balcony. 

“ WE SAW WHAT HE WAS TRYING TO DO EARILER- WE DIDNT KNOW WHAT TO DO SO CALLED THE POLICE-” she warned. 

Seeing as the police were on their way, Max couldn’t let Yakko be caught beating this creep up, so he knew he had to jump in, in the right or not the police would surely take Yakko into custody too and that was not a good way to end the night, leaping forward Max attempted to pull Yakko back, 

“YAkKO! YAKKO! GET OFF HE’S NOT WORTH IT! YAK- DUDE- pleaSE WE GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE!” Maxs eyes frantically moved between Jackson and the entrance to the alleyway watching the flashing lights move closer and closer. 

“THATS RIGHT- RUN AWAY- RUN AWAY WITH YOUR PANSY lITTLE BOYFRIEND HM? FUCKIN coWARD-” Jackson roared taking the hits, as in his drunken state he could barely even stand let alone fight back. 

Yakko fought against Max’s hold in nothing but a blind rage, he wanted to keep fighting! He wanted to hurt him! After what he tried to do to Dot- Yakkos little sister- he couldn’t let him- WOULD LET him just walk out of here no- he- 

“please Yakko- just let him go- “ 

He froze in his movements, Max... Max sounded so scared, it made Yakko stop and look back, he noticed how Max was shaking, that he was also angry too, but the look in his eyes, it carried worry. So much worry, it was then Yakko noticed the flashing lights, and realised their situation, his eyes widened and he went limp for a moment, before he gave max a nod. 

“Y-ya Max. Ok .. lets get out of here-” he couldn’t do this to Max, This... sad excuse of a toon would get what he deserved from the police, and though Yakko didn’t at all appricate what he just learned, he had to back away... for Max, and for Dot too, because ehe doubted Dot would be happy to learn he ended up in prison over something that happened to her. 

But before he fully gave in, Yakko pulled the drunkard forward by his shirt, so his sharp fang like teeth were directly in his sight, a threatening shadow casted over his face. 

“Stay. The FUCK away from my sister or her friends. Got it? So help me if you take one step in her direction after this night. I. will. Not. Hold. Back. Got it?” he hissed, but in response he merely got a giggle, it pissed his off but when Max tugged on his hand Yakko threw the man back into the garbage. And followed as Max quickly dragged him back behind the building. They ran a few apartments down before peeking out again, watching as police entered the ally and dragged him out, throwing him back into the car before heading for the apartment, probably looking for the girls who made the call to have interviews. 

With him securely locked away in police car Yakko still seemed tense, but just as the police car was pulling away a bing was heard from Yakkos phone. Glancing down he took it out, and low and behold a text from his sister 

Lil sis❤️ 12:34pm: Hiya Yak! Letting you know I got home safe❤️❤️ sleepover with Babs and shirley tonight!!❤️❤️ weekend! 

A simple little text but it seemed to relax that perplexed older brother who instantly responded 

Yakko 12:35: great to hear little sis❤️ have fun, don’t stay up too late, and no boys ya hear me? 

It was a joking little comment but to Max it showed that Yakko at least had calmed down enough to have rational thought. 

Lil sis ❤️ 12:36: ya ya and same to you! Last thing I need is a repeat of Friday the 13th tomorrow 

Ah yes the glorious day Dot walked in unannounced and caught Yakko with a fling in his room, awful memories he would rather forget, but Max perked at this text, he didn’t mean to eavesdrop but couldn’t help but tilt his head. 

“what happened friday the 13th?” he asked to which Yakko threw his phone in the air, nearly dropping it in his attempts to catch it but luckily didn’t, red faced he stuttered over his words. “n-nothing important! A-anyway-” he coughed “who's house tonight? Mine or yours? “he didn’t know who's house was closer in this present moment. 

“well mines just down the street, and after that punch you threw, we should probably get ya some ice for your fist fast” Max suggested, smiling shyly at Yakkos adorable display of embarrassed panic. “we could stop for some snacks on the way? Boys night?” he suggested. 

To Which Yakko more than happily agreed with a fist bump “boys night...”


	8. Chapter 7: what will it take for one kiss?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> did i intend for this fic to be a slow burn? no. Is that what it is now? possiably.  
> man you guys are going to hattttteeeeeeee me after this-

CHAPTER 7 

It was around half an hour later when the boys tumbled through the front door Max’s college apartment, he shared it with Pj and Bobby but Bobby was away on a work placement for the next 2 weeks and PJ had yet to come home. 

They had made a quick stop in the 24 hour on their way, picking up whatever snacks they could find, seeing as Max had barely eaten that day and Yakko had the munchies, they had quite the shopping bag between then, even buying a frozen Pizza, Though they were rushing to get back so Max could check up on Yakkos fist the two seemed to be in their own little world. Yakkos fist was throbbing with pain but he hardly noticed it as he watched Max laugh at a cheesy joke he just blurted out. Whatever it was the nighttime seemed to work its magic, streetlamps creating a warm artificial lighting on this cold night. Allowing the two to find their way to Max’s building without any hassle. 

Once inside, Max untied his hoodie from his waist and threw it over the beat up armchair in the lounge\kitchen area, switching on the lights as he walked in, The apartment was freezing causing Yakko to shuffle foot to foot, 

“Gez is it compulsory for college apartments to have busted heating?” the older warner couldn’t help but joke, Catching Max’s attention who was now placing the grocery bag on the counter top, As he looked over Max noticed how his friend seemed to shiver, Though he wasn’t all that cold, Max supposed Yakko had been out in the cold longer then he had been, and the shock was probably still in his system, so without much thinking to quickly strode over and switched the radiator on, 

“Oh! Sorry man! Was barely here all day It will take awhile to heat up so uh-” looking around he quickly grabbed the red hoodie he had previously thrown on the arm chair and offered it, “But this on, there should be some sweatpants in my room too, probably warmer then what you're wearing now” He suggested with a shrug. 

Noticing how Yakko seemed to pause, staring at the hoodie for a moment in hesitation before he reached out and carefully took it in his hands, Their fingers brushed for a moment, causing both to halt, though it was a simple brush of fingers, it made Max want to move forward that little bit more, to actually place his hand over Yakkos, but as they stared in tense silence, Yakko promptly pulled away, his stare breaking from Max’s own in favor of looking to the ground, the hoodie being pulled to his chest 

“Thanks dude, guess I'll go do that..” he uttered in a hurried manner, Ignoring how his finger tips seem to burn with the fleeting feeling of where Max’s own once touched, and Max, hand still reached out, now feeling a deep coldness, a longing, feeling...unsatisfyed, he glanced down to his hand before he suddenly pulled it back and straightend up, covering his disapointment with cough, 

“Uh yA-” his voice cracked “you remember which room is mine right?” he asked, toeing the carpet beneath his feet, his hair falling into his eyes, letting him at least pretend he couldn’t see Yakko, 

In response Yakko let out a hum, pretending that he didn’t notice the now akward air, that only seemed colder, hoping bounce back to lively athmosphere they had only moments before, he put on confident and almost singing tone to his voice “I sure do dork! no peeking now~” He teased “no matter how tempting it would be with my rockin’ bod” Striking a pose to show off his lack of muscles, Yakko waited till he got a small chuckle before feeling satisfied in fixing the awkward moment before turning and leaving the room, walking down the small corridor and reaching for the door on the left. 

“IM MAKING NO SUCH PROMISES!” max called out from the kitchen, causing a smile to grace the Warners lips, before he twisted the doorknob and took a step into the room he was all to familiar with for the past two months. 

Once alone in the room Yakko looked around for a moment, reaching for the light he turned it on, squinting at the brightness he was no longer accustomed to, feeling rather out of place, rooting through someone's stuff even if he knew he was aloud to, was always awkward, but a sudden breeze form the slightly opened window had him hurrying across the ground, first things first he shut the window and closed the curtains, after all in a busy apartment complex like this you never knew if someone was across the street trying to peek in the window. Sighing to himself, he relished in the silence for a moment before heading toward Max chest of drawers, not knowing what one was for what he simple went for the largest one and luckily for him, when he pulled it out, there packed neatly in folded squares was t-shirts one side and sweatpants the other, not one to be picky with pants, he took the first pair he saw, simple grey sweatpants that luckily didn’t have cuffs, with feet like Yak’s, cuffs could be a pain to try and get off around his feet. He was quick to kick off his shoes and jeans before jumping into the much more comfortable sweatpants, noticing how they pooled at his feet Yakko bent down and rolled them up a few times, damn Max for having a few more inches then him. 

It wasn’t till Yakko was pulling his shirt up and off his head, and he was reaching for the sweater that he realized something rather important, he- was wearing Max’s clothes, and though it shouldn’t of been a big deal, It was to Yakko, he was wearing Max’s clothes, not only that he in his hands in this very moment he held the Goofs favorite hoodie, something Yakko had never seen him with out, he couldn’t help but stare at it for a moment, thumbing the fabric, as his cheeks redden, despite his trembling shoulders, he took a moment to raise the fabric up, and looking around quickly , feeling a bit paranoid at what he was about to do, The short toon dipped his head down and took a small sniff of the fabric, it was weird and he knew it was but there was just something about it, it just smelled so comforting, like the times he face planted into Max’s chest when something wasn’t going his way, or the rare times Max would pull him in for a sudden hug, those hugs that always made Yakkos head spin and made him realize just why his siblings adored the simple gesture of affection so much, it was like being offered a safe place. 

Yakko closed his eyes and took another deeper breath, enjoying this moment before a sudden knock snapped him out of his thoughts. 

“Everything cool in there Yak? Get stuck~?” it was Max and there was a joking manner to his tone. 

Nearly jumping out of his skin Yakko scrambled to quickly pull the hoodie over his head, hopping around with his arms in the air, trying to shove it on as quick as he could, shame seeping into his very bones. 

‘y-ya! It's all good in here Maxxie Taxi! Was just taking a breather!” he called out frantically before tripping over his own feet and hitting the ground with a hiss of ‘shit’ under his breath. His arms still tangled over his head. 

Max who was standing outside the door, winced when he heard the thud, wondering if he should go in or not, he decided against it, despite his own hand itching to twist the handle and waltz in, Yakko needed his privacy, and friends or not it was not right to walk in while he was getting changed. 

“need help? “he asked, hand still hovering over the cold handle, all was silent for a few seconds, before he heard a weak voice utter in defeat “maybe..” through the door. At the sound of absolute defeat Max could not help the small ‘pfh’ that slipped passed his lips as he twisted the handle and pushed the door open, curious to see what sort of situation Yakko had found himself in to need help after only been left alone for a total of 5 minutes. 

However nothing could have prepared Max for when he looked down and saw the most confusing sight, yakko on the ground, completely twisted in the red hoodie, his arms seeming to be stuck over his head, tangled in the fabric in a way max didn’t even think possible, an arm was through the head hole and the other arm was in the wrong arm hole, only making it twist around in more, his torso on completely display, and the only thing of Yakkos face that Max could see was Yakkos eyes, that were currently glaring at him sharply, noticing how Maxs lips became wobbly and he stumbled over to the doorframe in complete disbelief. 

“How did you-? I- how- pfh-” his hand came up to his mouth as he shoulders jolted. 

Yakko attempted to wiggle or roll across the floor but to no avail, if anything it only made him more frustrated, 

“Hey! Don’t you dare- if you laugh at this and not my Yam joke! I swear it will be the last thing you ever do!” he warned, though the threat didn’t sound as ominous when Yakkos speech was muffled by the hoodie he was currently trapped in, trying a sit up a yell of anger left him, stifled by the fabric once again, damn this was getting old real fast. 

Max could not help it as his eyes tears up, the scene was just to brilliant, a hand to his mouth, the other reaching back for his phone, it took a while for Yakko to notice the mobile device as he was busy trying to escape, but when he did, he froze like a deer in headlights be struggling more. 

“MAXAMILLiON GOOF! why are you filming!? It's not funny! I'm a comedy toon I should know!” he complained “Take me out of this!” he demanded. 

This only fueled Max’s laughter even more, 

“I'm a comedy toon too dork! And trust me its gold!” he continued to film having to bite his lip to try and fight back that laugh of his that he thought to be utterly horrendous. But just as Yakko let out an angry kick much like a toddler, he couldn’t hold back anymore and with a deep breath a loud laugh ripped through the room, followed by snort and then a hyuck, causing Max to drop his phone in an attempt to use both hands to force his mouth shut, though it was proving difficult. 

The sound was enough to make Yakko cease his struggle and simply stare with bright eyes shining in an absolutely stricken fashion, as though they were staring at something breathtaking, Max could no longer stand as he crouched down still trying to stifle his laughter. 

“I-im sorry, sorry its just you're like a child stuck like that” he calmed down, whipping his eyes as his laughter subsided, though Yakko stared from him awkward placement on the ground and uttered out in mesmerizion. 

“no- don’t apologize your laughter it-… it was ..” 

“what? Hideous ya I kn-” 

“Beautiful.” 

Max froze and looked up wondering if he heard Yakko right, though it seemed as though Yakko had only appeared what slipped from his lips as his face began to burn red, so much so it practically blended in with the red hoodie. Especially when he tried to wiggle further in it to hide. 

It was truly an odd sight, but if there was a third party, they find it was quite fitting, the toon who only knew chaos and comedy, finding the most strange and unexpected type of laughter beautiful, something so many others would laugh at, seen as nothing but a wonderful and charming quirk to the oldest Warner. 

Silence dragged out between them, both red faced with the goof staring directly at the disaster that was Yakko and Yakko attempting to look anywhere but Max. Eventually Max spoke up 

“I- ..thanks man..” and then there was silence again, but it wasn’t tense, no instead it was relaxed, if air could have a feeling it was warm, for Max it felt like the sun was shining directly on him, heating him up from the inside out, despite it being a cold Febuary day, it felt like summer to him with the simple compliment from the tied up toon. A small smile on his face before he suddenly snapped out of his daze 

“OH! Uh- ya lets get you out of that-” Max quickly crawled over, trying to figure out how exactly Yakko did this. 

“oh nah I'm rather comfortable now” Yakko chimed with sarcasm dripping from his tone, giving a good wiggle from measure, which earned him an eyebrow raise from Max, “hey! I could keep you in there if I wanted, how did you get stuck like this anyway?” he asked pulling Yakko up to sit up properly. 

With a huff as though he was winded Yakko spoke without missing a beat, “You surprised me.” his eyes dead serious as he stared at Max, who in turn blinked in surprise at the bluntness before a small laugh left him again, “Hey I did not force you to put your arm in the head hole~” He teased, taking hold of the hem of the hoodie 

“Well its your hoodie, there for your fault. Guilty by association” Yakko stated like a matter of fact before stretching him arms up a little straight and shutting his eyes as Max tugged the fabric upwards, luckily without too much struggle and freeing Yakko with a quick pull. Max rolled his eyes and went to give a smug comeback only to freeze when Yakko was finally free. 

He had not realized till now but- this set up was like something from a dream of his, though nothing was happening, he could not help it, sitting here with Yakko on his bedroom floor, after pulling Yakko out of a hoodie, HIS HOODIE, the both of them attempting to catch their breath (for different reasons), He noticed how the pink on Yakkos cheeks was not yet dying away and Max could not help but have-...less than innocent visuals playing in the back of his mind, especially at recalling how he had brushed the Warners sides, so close yet not close enough to him, just wanting to pull him forward, be able to hold him close, to be allowed to touch him in an intimate way, Max didn’t even need anything r18, he just needed to be allowed to have Yakko close. Close enough to hold, close enough to smell, close enough to nuzzle into his shoulder, It was like something from his dreams, but unlike his dreams he couldn’t do anything. 

Staring for a moment, the taller toon quickly swallowed to relax his dry throat, looking away before he gave himself away offering the hoodie back to him once again, hoping Yakko would put it on fast before his mind ran wild again. “Just try not to get stuck in it again” and he cracked a smile “I won't help you again if you do.” 

Smirking in glee, Yakko took the hoodie back into his hands, hoping that Max could not tell by his face that- he was thinking the same thing... Not that he would know what Max is thinking, but he simply knew he wanted their touches to be more then brief, he ached for a lingering touch, even if it was simply to hold hands. 

“Don't worry Maxxie boy, I'm a big boy, more than capable of dressing myself~” there was amusement in his eyes as he pulled the hoodie over his head, slowly this time and taking his time to make sure he did not make a fool of himself again, Tugging the hoodie down so that he was fully concealed looking to Max happily, shoving his hands into the pockets of the hoodie, staring at him, waiting for some type of response, However Max only stared back, completely smitten with the boy before him, before his growling stomach interrupted the peaceful moment, causing a flush to paint Max’s face. 

“OH! Want some Pizza? “ He asked pushing off the ground and standing up, “I put it in the oven before your entanglement~” offering a hand to Yakko to help him up, The toon very happily took the offered hand nodding his head but just as he pulled himself up, winced as his wrist gave a sudden tug of pain, Concern replaced Max’s expression before he looked to Yakkos hand and remember 

“Shit- right your hand- come on. I'll get you some ice” Leading Yakko back to the kitchen, Max crouched down to the small freezer digging through it, Leaving Yakko to his own devices, he couldn’t find any ice and huffed in annoyance pulling a bag of peas from the drawer instead, “Theres no ice, so hopefully you can make due with peas?” He suggested “Don't know if it works though, only ever seen it helping in movies” he admitted with a shrug, gaining a small chuckle from Yakko much to his delight. 

The strange, puppy clown hybrid toon, happily bounced up to sit on the counter, legs swinging ideally, “Well I don’t go around punchin’ everyone so I don’t know either, only one way to find out though,” his hands reached out in a grabby fashion “bag me” 

“pushy, aren't we? not even a please” Max mused but then looked down to see Yakko still wearing his gloves, and raising his eyebrow pointing to his hands “First. Gloves off. We got to see the damage” Max suggested, to which Yakko slapped his hands to his own cheeks, “Why Max! Asking a toon to remove their gloves? How forward” He teased but none the less did as Max asked, slipping the glove off his hand and revealing the damage left behind by justice. 

Unable to help himself Max hissed at the state of Yakkos hand, luckily the wrist did not seem to be broke or sprained, only slightly swollen, but Yakkos knuckle was busted up, scratched right across the bone and bloodied. Yakko was refusing to look at it, preferring to use this moment for dramatics, stretching backwards, with his head tilted aware, Yakko had thrown his free arm over his eyes like a silent film star who just saw something horried, his voice wispy yet troubled. 

“How is it looking doctor! Be straight with me, will it need amputation?” it appears that even in moments like these, yakko couldn’t bring himself to be serious, that honestly was a relief to Max, who was still haunted by the image of the uncontrollable Yakko from earlier that night. It was nice to have this dorkish goofball back, the Yakko he knew best. 

Max turned Yakkos hand, checking for anymore injury's, never more thankful for his fingerless gloves then now as he could feel the heat of Yakkos hand against his skin, thumbs brushing delicately against the injured hand, leaving Yakko with butterflies in his stomach, as each careful caress filled him with a tingling sensation, that started from his hand before abruptly tugging his heart strings. 

“No amputation you drama queen, but it will need antiseptic and a bandage” he winced getting a closer look at the damage“damn you threw a good punch, pretty sure you broke his nose back there” Max responded, hesitating to let go of Yakkos hand, but ultimately having to, to get the first aid kit from one of the cupboard. 

“Oh he did “ Yakko hummed “but- I still cant believe I punched a guy-” he admitted almost in astonishment, the buzz from the alcohol being there, it was only truly now that he reflected on his actions during this night, eyes widening as he stared down at his hand “i- really punched a guy max- I PUNCHED HIM AND BROKE HIS NOSE!” he explained, non-injured hand pushing his hair back as he laughed in disbelief, the shock only now setting in along with the adrenaline. 

Yakkos shock made Max chuckle, as he set the first aid kit down beside them, “That you did Yak, with good reason to” he hummed “He is definitely locked up tonight, stuck with the busted nose” he guessed, taking a cotton ball out of the bag and dousing it in Antiseptic fluid. carefully leading Yakkos injured hand towards him, holding it steady, but none the less enjoying the warmth of the others hand. 

Wincing when the antiseptic met his knuckle, Yakko still let out a laugh when Max apologized waving his free hand like it was nothing “Tis but a flesh wound! A scar for my victory~” and with that a snigger left his lips, much like an excited child, Yakko couldn’t help wiggling on the spot, still completely dazed at the fact that he successfully punched a guy, though it was not the type of thing one should celebrate, it was the first time Yakko resorted to such violence and the adrenaline was running high. 

“Well I would prefer it if you managed to have little to no scars as possible” Max grinned “would be a pity to have to keep bandaging you up like this” the goof admitted, washing the blood off Yakkos hand was taking some bandage gauze to wrap around it. 

“awww you don’t like being my nurse Maxxie?” Yakko pouting, feeling in a playful mood right about now, “don't enjoy this quality time with me?” he laughed pulling his hand away as Max was attempting to secure the bandage, causing his friend to huff in frustration trying to reach to Yakkos hand again to finish the job only to have Max continuously pull away with bubbles of laughter, and though it was bothersome, Max could not bring himself to be annoyed, not when Yakko was smiling in the way that turned Max’s whole stomach around. 

It was that smile that Yakko had when he was his most relaxed, It was a smile that made Yakko actually seem his age.. Made him seem like a 19 year old. Max had noticed because honestly there wasn’t much he didn’t notice about yakko, but he had noticed how Yakko was different from him, different from his friends, or anyone else their age really, there was a maturity to him, but not a maturity that came with a smart mind, no a maturity that seemed like he grew up too fast.. A maturity that was forced on him. Max was aware of the Warner siblings lack of parents, but it was the time when he noticed how stressed Yakko got when his siblings were late for their daily check in’s or how he seemed to view different things and how careful he was with money that made Max wonder.... At what age did Yakko Warner have to grow up? But now was not the time for such depressing thoughts, instead Max would much rather focus on the toon in front of him, and moving forward Max tried to reach for Yakkos hand, one of his hand on the counter holding him steady. 

“Yakko! Come on!” he laughed “just let me finish up!” Max whined, going on his toes he moving his hand around restlessly, like a cat trying to catch a moving laser, “You don’t expect me to...’hand’ myself over that easily do you?” Yakko asked, staring directly at Max, Max could almost hear the ‘bah dum tis’ in his head at the other pun, he couldn’t help but to groan “Yakko you cant be serious- come just let be add the bandage tape!” Max complained reaching for Yakkos hand again, but this time being strategic, aiming for where the hand was going to be instead of where it was, Just as he managed to catch Yakkos wrist, he noticed the other toon preparing to use his other hand, so with great speed, Max pinned the other hand down to the down with a proud grin, 

“Now what do you say about that Yakko? Can I finish the job now?” he asked a brow raised, 

But Yakko had barely heard a single word that Max had uttered, to busy hearing his own heart beat in his ears to notice anything else, Catching his breath from the laughing fit, He couldn’t help it as the smile slipped off his lips and was replaced with nervous pursed lips, Only when his hand was caught and in Max’s careful grasp did Yakko fully realize how close Max was, with his breath caught in his throat the eldest Warner looked between his hand that was being held in the air and then back to Max, a small hitch of breath alerting Max to their predicament too. 

There Max was, Standing impossibly close to the counter, Yakkos legs either side of him, holding one of Yakkos hands firmly in his grasp, with the other pinned to the counter, their noses almost touching with how close they were in this moment, Yakko having to look down slightly, seeing as he was sitting on the counter, probably the only time he ever had to as he was shorter than Max, and Max...oh poor Max, was painfully aware of how close Yakkos lips were in this moment. It was already hard enough for Max not to think of kissing the zany toon every time he opened his mouth, but to have him so close, that was a completely different story. Slowly Max lowered Yakkos hand, but made no attempt to pull back or break their eye contact, and Yakko did not either, hardly noticing the silence in the room, the goof even dared to inch forward a little bit.. 

“So..can I finish the job now?” he asked in a whisper, almost scared to break the mood they had set for themselves, in return Yakko gave a short and curt nod, “s-sure” his voice was quiet and shaky, as he attempted not to back down from this stare down, they had. Watching as his crush slowly led his hand towards him, Yakko was mesmerized to see the care Max took, his gaze only breaking for a moment to take some tape before his eyes was on Yakkos once again. 

With the tape and bandage securely in place, Max raised Yakkos hand to his lips without a second though, and kissed the bandage lightly, a simple gesture that left Yakko breathless but wanting for more, he was not satisfied with the romantic gesture, not when the kiss didn’t even meet his skin, not when the kiss was to a bandage, his fingers curled on the hand that was still pinned to the counter, his dissatisfaction not just a selfish need, as it was shared with his companion that was just as much wishing for more. Unfulfilled wishes filled the air, they both knew they shouldn’t go further then this, and yet Yakko didn’t stop Max from leaning closer, 

“don't I...get a thank you?” He asked, voice still just above a whisper, the hand that previously pinned Yakkos hand, now moving to intertwine their fingers on the counter, taking the first move in their little game. Perhaps if this was a different situation Yakko could blame what ever outcome souly on Max, but seeing as he was almost leaning forward, his legs slowly closing to pull Max closer, Yakko had to now take half of the responsibility. 

“do you think you deserve one?~” Yakko teased, his bandaged hand now moving to rest against Max’s cheek, thumb brushing against the smooth skin, as his eyes wandered to his lips, a ache from deep with-in him attempting to push the Warner forward despite all better judgement. 

“I definitely think I do~” was the goof's response, a small beam of a smile peeking past his lips, they were close enough now that Yakko could almost count every eyelash Max had, and how he wished he could, if he wasn’t so enchanted with the way Max nudged into his hand. 

While Max couldn’t help it as his free arm found its way, looping around Yakko’s waist, it was strange to Max to feel the familiar fabric of his hoodie on someone else, it almost seemed baggier on Yakko, yet suited him just fine... Max decided he liked this on his companion and most certainly would love to see it on him more often~ A small found akin to a pur past Max’s lips, taking in each touch that Yakko offered in great joy, those each fleeting touch leading up to this moment, every glance and every distant thought, would not be in vain for now was the climax. 

As Yakko leaned forward and Max eagerly wait, a hushed sentence left Yakkos trembling self, “ Well then, I hope this is enough to thank-” they were inching closer, lips brush barely brushing now, heart racing and nerves shaking them, leaving them to squeeze one another's hand in hopes of steadying themselves, eyes fluttering shut awaiting the all important moment, “y-” 

But the moment was not ment to be. 

“MAX BUDY! DO YOU HAVE MY KEYS!?” Their eyes snapped open and both jumped back, Yakko hitting his head off the cupboard behind him and Max nearly tripping over himself, as there was suddenly knocking on the door, both still trapped in a dizzy daze unable to comprehend just what nearly happened and what was happening. All that Yakko knew is that Max’s hand was no longer in his own, and he felt more sober than he had the entire night. 

Meanwhile Max who was looking around frantically seemed to finally catch up on what had happened, and let out another frustrated groan, hand running down his face in agitation, PJ had returned and forgotten his keys, could he of waited a minute more!? Apparently not! Cause here Max was, not kissed. Upset. And with an adorably confused Yakko sitting on the counter. It was frustrating because Max had waited so long for a perfect moment like that but there it was! It came and went just as fast. 

“I- that’s PJ... forgot he was coming home tonight..” he explained perturbed, sighing the goof looked to Yakko with a troubled look, his chest clenching painfully as he had to remove himself from the wonderful sense they are previously set. 

Yakko who as of this moment was rubbing his now sore head, was still coming to terms with the fact that he almost but didn’t get to kiss Max, he wanted to just reach out and pull Max in! But- he knew he couldn’t... not with the mood ruined like this, and surely it was all just in the moment... like the almost kiss at the party. From the eventful night and the alchol, that surely must have been it, Yakko couldn’t blame that forever but for now at least he would , even if it left him with an aching pit in his stomach, 

“ehhhhhh ya- ya, go let him in dude. I'll..take out the pizza!” he suggested, slipping off the counter finally, and rocking on his heels, raisng his bandage hand to scratch his neck, “thanks for the help by the way, hurts alott less! I should a..... put those peas on it now that I remember hm?” he asked already moving to open the busted oven. 

Max shuffled form foot to foot, watching in mild agitation as Yakko seemed to act like nothing had happened, “ya...ya sounds like a good idea” he admitted, staring for another moment, attempting to read his friend, but when all he could see was a brick wall, The good left out a breath and existed the room, glancing back once before leaving for the hallway, his hand scratching where the ghost of Yakkos touch still lingered. 

While for Yakko he stood, hovering over the cooker, completely red face and his fingers just brushing his lips, recalling how close he had been. 

Though allot had happened in that hour they were alone, one thing was for certain both, were frustrated with the outcome. Angry at themselves for how they continued on with their night as if nothing had happened. A friendship that yurned for something other than companionship.


	9. Chapter 8: lets go skating!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So i felt bad for ruining the nearly kiss last chapter XD so to somewhat make it up heres a chapter of mostly cute interactions.   
> Also sorry for not posting yesterday, decided to take a rest day so i made this chapter a little bit longer than the others. Originally this chapter was this and the next chapter together, but seeing as it got so long i decided to split it in half, so enjoy this chapter, there will be angst soon.

CHAPTER 8 

Much later into the evening around 2am, All three boys were huddled up on the busted couch, watching a movie play out on the Tv, one of their favorites, it was who framed Rodger rabbit, as it was the only movie with both Disney and Warner toons so neither group felt like they were betraying their old studios. 

With one slice of pizza left on the coffee table and tons of snacks in their bowls, the night was set to be a long one, though it appeared PJs schedule had other ideas. 

The movie was only around 20 minutes in when PJ let out a yawn, pushing himself up from between the two toons, he gave a stretch, 

“hey uh im’a head to bed, you two alright clearing up?” he asked looking down to his two friends, he felt awkward intruding on their night like this, it was clear to him when he entered that something had happened, because of the tense air and the red faces they both had sported, but every time he tried to leave Max would always come up with some excuse to make him stay, so by the looks of things this was the only chance he would get to head off. 

The goof looked up from where he was sitting on the far left of the couch, now in some pajama shorts and a top, “huh? Uh- sure thing PJ, see you tomorrow pal” Though he seemed to be non-chalont about the whole thing, there was something in the way that his eyes darted to Yakko who was sitting on the far-right side, knees pulled up to his chest that suggested Max was nervous about something. 

Pj gave a quick look between them, He was curious to know what had happened, but decided he could interrogate Max tomorrow, so with another yawn, he offered them both a small wave and left the room, leaving them both in silence. 

Despite the distance both snuck quick glances at each other from across the couch, 60cm never felt so far before, however it was only a matter of time before their darting eyes made contact, causing both to cease up and look away sharply, looking back to the tv in silence. Cheeks burning as they searched for something to say, anything clear up this tention, and luckily a subject came to them, in the form of Jessica Rabbit making her appearance on screen. 

A whistle left Yakkos lips, followed by his all enthusiastic “HelloooOOO nurse!” gaining a snort from Max 

“So she's your type?” Max asked curiously glancing towards Yakko, who in turn looked to him with a raised brow, “Uh ya? She's everyone's type! Come on now Maxxie~ you mean to tell me not even once did ya have a crush on her? She was drawn to seduce! “ was Yakkos excuse, hands wave in the air before he gestured to the tv. 

“I mean she got my heart racing when I was kid but I wouldn’t say I had a crush on her” he admitted scratching behind his head, “I was a one crush at a time kind of guy” he admitted with a mumble, causing Yakko to scoot a little bit closer, with a look on his face that only read trouble, 

“And was this by chance when you were crushing on Roxanne~?” despite his earlier jealousy's, his voice carried nothing but lighthearted teasing, The mention of his ex-crush by his present crush very much had Max flustered, raising his hands up in surrender, he couldn’t bring himself to look at Yakko who had that well known smug expression he carried from time to time, honestly it was weird how it could be attractive, it honestly was not fair. 

“no! W-well yes... but how did you know about Roxanne and I?” he asked seeing as Max never told Yakko that Roxanne was an old girlfriend of his, to which Yakko simply scooted till he was pressed against Max’s side an arm thrown around the goofs shoulder, and a finger poking his chest, “OH Maxxie-boy~ there isn't much I don’t know~” the toon hummed before slouching against the couch, “Besides PJ told me, was he not supposed to?” was the next question from the shorter toons lips. 

To which Max sighed, he should of seen that one coming, Pj had a tendency to over share but why he shared that fact with Yakko, Max would never know, “No it's not that, just thought it was weird, she and I were in the past so I just didn’t see the point in sharing that fact” He admitted, before sneaking a glance to Yakko “Besides... I already moved on so why bring it up?” He mused, but then quickly choked as Yakko leaned up to be eye level with him, flush against Max’s side as he made his way up, 

“Oh you have? So you two just friends now?” Yakko asked, impossibly close in Max’s personal space, causing the goofs head to spin and his thoughts to become jumbled, 

“W-well ya- Roxxie is great and all but we e-ended on good terms, besides, she has a boyfriend now” He admitted, his words spilling out without any caution, It was hard for the goof to concentrate on the question with Yakko this close, barely even an inch away, He didn’t know why Yakko was so interested but he could not bring himself to wonder why either at this very moment. 

The Warner in question stayed where he was, Eyes squinting suspiciously at Max as though he was searching for something else, but when he couldn’t find it, Yakko easily slipped back down into the couch, removing his arm from around Max’s shoulder , much to the mans delight and dismay. 

Yakko seemed rather pleased with himself in this moment, there was just a satisfied air about him, that Max could not pinpoint the reason for, He watched at Yakko made himself comfortable in the cushions before letting out a sigh, Arms folding and his eyes closing deep in thought. 

“Ah, a boyfriend hm? A shame, A beaut like her shouldn’t be tied down” was his response, it appeared Yakko’s boyish tendencies had reared their head once again, 

which gained a chuckle form the taller toon beside him who was only now relaxing back into his place on the couch, finding it surprisingly more comforting with the shorter toon sitting beside him, so close that he could feel Yakko brush against him when ever he moved. Smiling Max couldn’t help but asked with an amused glint in his eyes 

“So you're interested in my Ex now?” His own arms folding as Yakko’s unfolded, An ear perking up at Max’s question and one eye peaking open to look to him. A wolfish grin coming to his lips allowing a single fang to point out. 

“What can I say? I have a thing for red heads” He claimed, eyes moving back to the Tv where Jessica Rabbit’s performance was still playing. 

His companion couldn’t help his laughter, and before Yakko knew it, he had a pillow to the face, “Dude! What happened to the bro code?” he asked, laughing at his friends startled expression as he didn’t expect the pillow, “Even if she wasn’t taken that’s my ex!” Max was amused more than anything, and pleased that he managed to knock Yakko off his balance and onto the couch. Still papping him with the pillow despite all of Yakkos squirming. 

“Bro code? What bro code?” The eldest Warner laughed attempting to block his face from the assault, yelping as he could not fight Max off once the goof had him straddled. 

“The Bro code you came up with when Betty gave me her number remember?” Max mused, remembering how they had gone to the ice rink a few months back, and a waitress there had slipped Max her number, the waitress just so happened to be a Ex Yakkos and thus the Bro code was invented. 

Max stopped his pillow attack enough to let Yakko think, a finger tapping against his chin, before he shrugged, “I don’t remember such a thing~” though it was very clear that he did remember it if his mischievous grin was anything to go by. With a gasp Max hit Yakko once more and cried out “You hypocrite! You only remember when its convenient for you”, Now it was Yakkos turn to laugh, Wheezing when the pillow hit his chest, this continued until eventually Max was content with his ambush, eventually sitting back, still on Yakkos torso, but no longer attacking, staring over the pillow with a beatific expression. 

Allowing Yakko to catch his breath, Max couldn’t help as it as the small pleased ‘hm’ left his lips, eyes dazed, as he simply took in the wonder that was beneath him. He couldn’t help but find this situation funny. 

Only a month ago did Max start to notice these little quirks about Yakko that made him appealing to the goof, before that Max simply saw the Warner as your average toon, not bad to look at but not drawn to be attractive either, but now.. Now Max couldn’t stop noticing things about the other that made him wonder how no one else had fallen for the same little quirks, from the one sharp canine that stuck out just a little bit more than the rest when he smiled, to the way his tail could easily express how the toon was feeling, A small trait that went un-noticed by so many others, and it wasn’t just his physical traits either that Max had found himself hooked in by, It was by so much more that would simply take too longer to list, and as that month went by, Max had slowly but surely found himself completely enamored by this toon, Sure he had crushes before and even relationships, but usually they didn’t bloom from friendship, Max knew what he was feeling was a type of like....possibly even love, though it was too soon to call it that, All that Max knew is that it was different than anything he felt before, and he wanted to explore it more. 

As Yakko finally caught his breath and looked up to Max, the taller toon was once again taken by how placid the scene was, with the sound of the tv playing in the back, nothing but moonlight seeping through the closed curtains, and with Yakko near him, Max realized then and there, there was nowhere else he would rather be. 

He allowed himself to drop forward, wiggling down a little so that his face would land smack in the middle of the Warners chest, Arms coming to wrap around Yakko in an almost lazy hug, the action surprising the now living pillow greatly, but- he didn’t push Max off, instead his hands hesitated in the air, before he mummered quietly, 

“So..am I forgiven now?” he asked, aware that he was never in trouble of losing Max’s favor, but none the less he felt like asking this. 

With a deep breath, Max moved so his head now lay sidewards, Cheek squished against his friends chest, “I’ll think about it, for now this is your punishment” Making himself comfortable it was obvious by his lack of movement that the toon was there to stay. 

Even though it was called a punishment, Yakko couldn’t bring himself to see it as once, as his hands slowly found themselves entangled in black locks of hair, playing with the strands like it was second nature. This wasn’t a punishment, It was a comfort, It reminded Yakko of the days back in the water tower when his siblings were still small enough to both fit in his ballpit, when they were still young enough to depend on his help, and would curl up close to him in hopes of scaring away their nightmares, One of the few things that brought the oldest sibling comfort in those dark days, but- at the same time this wasn’t completely the same, because for the first time in years, he felt something that he had forgotten about, He felt safe. 

A faint feeling of familiarity washed over the toon, he could almost feel the brief brush of his parents touch, before he pushed those memories away, because right now he was with Max, curled up on the busted couch of the apartment, he hadn’t realized that Max was broader than him till now, but it filled Yakko with a sense of peace and tranquility. 

As time went on, Max had fallen asleep in his spot, and though it was slightly uncomfortable, Yakko couldn’t bring himself to wake or move the toon, instead he picked up the remote from the floor and switched off the tv, a small hum leaving him as he looked down to Max with a smile, nuzzling into his hair for a moment, before dropping his head back against the arm rest and watching the ceiling, a hand resting on his companions back and the othe brushing agaisnt the floor, he fell asleep for the first time in months without any worries, not thinking of anything except for tonight, and how he enjoyed it. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

As the next morning rolled around, Max was the first to awake from slumber, his eyes felt heavy as though he didn’t want to wake up, he probualy would of went back to sleep, if it wasn’t for the quite sound of sniggering and a flash bright enough that he could see it behind his closed eyelids, Groaning the disney toon slowly peeked open his eyes, the world seeming blurry for a moment as he tried to focus on the two figures in front of him, till finally the sleep washed from his vision and before him stood Pj and Buster bunny, a phone in each of their hands, a pleased look on the rabbits face and an amused look on his friends. 

Squinting Max rubbed his eyes, still painfully unaware of the body he was sleeping on “What time is it? Why are you gu-” It was then as he sat up and looked down, he realised just what had the other two’s attention, red stained his cheeks as he scrambled to get up, careful not to wake the sleeping toon, that tossed a little at the sudden cold, looking around in a panic, Max grabbed the blanket from beside him and drapped it carefully over his sleeping companion, sighing in releif as it did the trick and Yakko simply rolled over still asleep. 

After a moment he snapped his head towards Buster and Pj with a glare, whisper shouting “Delete that-” to which the chill rabbit leaned agaisnt the wall with a hum 

“Dang didn’t think you guys would work things out this fast, but good for you two” before his eyes moved back to the sleeping form on the couch a smirk threatening to peek from behind his buck teeth “and is he wearing your hoodie?” a low whistle left him “you work fast Max Goof” 

Buster didn’t need to spell out what he was implying, Max was well aware of what he thought, and to save not only his own dignity but also Yakkos, the flustered toon pinched the bridge of his nose and shit back “It’s not what it looks like! He was just cold and- besides Pj was here all night we wouldn’t do that with someone here, together or not” though his whisper went even quieter at the mention of being together, eyes briefly darting back to the blanket bundle to make sure he was still sleeping, the last thing Max needed was Yakko joining this conversation, As he was aware Yakko had a tendency to make misunderstood situations even more misunderstood. “which we are not! Together by the way-” he pointed out. 

Though Buster seemed skeptical he simply gave a shrug, “What ever you say bud, not my place to make judgement” though just as he finished talking there was a sound behind them, and glancing back Yakko seemed to be just waking up, sitting up and stretching, cracking his neck he rubbed a sore shoulder, before he noticed everyone, though he didn’t seem half as surprised as Max originally was. 

“What’s this? A party, I didn’t get the memo” he chimed standing up now, “What brings my good pal Buster to this fine establishment aaaaattttt-” his eyes squinted to a clock hanging on the wall on the other side of the room, “11:34 in the morning huh-” he seemed surprised “earlier than I thought” he mummered. Being the morning person he was Yakko was already bouncing with energy. 

Buster shoved his hands into his jacket pockets casually, concealing his phone with the photograph he would without a doubt spring on the unsuspecting Warner at somepoint in the future, “Well Shirley and Plucky were goin’ ice skating, thought I should invite you guys, We have the week off might as well hang while we have the chance” he explained, Max who was still half asleep at this moment, had found himself in the kitchen area, no longer bothered with trying to explain himself as Buster seemed to be dropping the subject. 

“Ice skating?” Max perked up, Though it wasn’t the same as Skateboarding, Max always found himself good at any sport that involved balance, and ice skating was one of those, However he had not gotten the chance to visit the rink during winter, too busy with college and classes, on top of that he stayed with his dad during Christmas, “Sounds like fun, I'm in” poping open the fridge Max pulled milk out and reached for a glass on the shelf, besides.. Maybe it would give him someway to impress Yakko. 

Meanwhile Yakko, who had never dared to ice-skate in his life, due to his lack of balance (something he shared with his siblings) had to think about it for a moment, “Is Dot coming?” he asked, deciding that he should probably talk to her about Jackson today, Even if he wanted to watch Max in action, It would be best to get this whole Jackson talk out of the way, 

Buster gave a nod “ya, she wanted to forget about the situation last night and figured this would be a good distraction” he admitted, before scratching his arm, “I- tried to ask her to write a report since its already up on the college page looking for witnesses, but she wont do it.” Buster looked back and noticed the perplexed look on Yakkos face, reaching out he gave his friends shoulder a pat, “Don't stress about it Yak, I'm sure after some fun it will be an easier subject with her...just. Give her some time.. So you in?” he asked hoping to change the subject. 

It worked, though Yakko was still wondering about a way to bring up the subject with Dot, He would prefer to have the talk with her now, but if Buster already asked, it was probualy best to give her some time, with a smile he looked up and gave a nod, 

“Of course! What sort of toon would I be if did not go a fall fest?” he asked 

“but I-” lifting an arm he gave his underarm a sniff before recoiling “should probably head home first, need a good shower “ he hummed “and before ya offer Max, I am craving a working water flow that doesn’t turn off when I'm getting into the groove of things” Yakko yawned, scratching his side. 

This earned a chuckle from the toon now making cereal, “It only does that because your showers take forever” he mused, leaning against the counter, and pointing his spoon at Yakko, “But do you need a ride home? I don’t mind throwing on some jeans and bringing you?” he asked as Yakko made his way to the window and peaked out to see if Busters car was there. 

“Nah man, thanks for the offer but Buster had to drive by my place to get anywhere I'll just grab a ride with him” he offered Max a smile “besides” the toon pinched his nose “I'm not the only one who need’s a shower” there was a grin on his lips, but Max quickly gave himself a self-conscious sniff, before shooting Yakko a look of amusement “true but not as much as you.” 

Buster interrupted this little back and forth with a quick check to his phone, “ya, ya, you're both cute but I'm on a tight schedule so can we cut the flirting short? Bab’s will kill me if I don’t drop off her shoes soon. And since Yakko had required my services that’s a pit stop on my way” He was already walking to the door, As Yakko looked to Max and then looked down, remembering that he was wearing Max’s clothes, “Ah- Dude! Wait a second I-” Only to be cut off by Max 

“It’s cool Man, just give them back after the rink not a big deal, now hurry before he leaves without you” he sniggered, handing the cereal to Pj as his housemate pulled out his own bowl, though he wouldn’t admit it aloud, that was not his only reason for letting Yakko keep his clothes. 

Pausing Yakko looked down at himself for a moment before smiling and running out, “Thanks! See you later Maxi-Taxi!” a hand waving as Buster called out from the door “were meeting at 1:30! Be on time they have a group deal before 2pm!” and when the door closed, the apartment fell to silence, nothing but the munching of cereal, as Max stared at the door with a distant smile on his face, before he felt someone staring at him and looked to Pj, Pj was giving him a look that Max knew all to well, earning the bigger toon a playful shove “shut up” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Yakko bounced his way into shotgun, shutting the door securely, Yakko clicked in his seatbelt, hey even toons had to play it safe, shuffling into his seat, he couldn’t help himself but to dip his head so the hoodie covered his nose, a giddy sound making it’s may from the flamboyant toon, but when the car did not start, he looked to Buster curiously only to jump seeing the blue bunny watching him, a brow raised as he leaned against the steering wheel. 

“Want to talk about it?” he asked inquisitively earning a blush from the oldest Warner who cleared his throat and quickly moved to looked ahead, 

“talk about what my good toon? There is nothing to say” he claimed lying through his teeth, while fiddling with one of the strings of the hoodie, gaining a skeptical hum from the bunny beside him, reaching down Buster pulled the gear stick into reverse and looked behind him. 

“You can lie to yourself Yakko Warner but you can't lie to me, I wont push ya, you know I won't but I can't make promises for your sister or even Wakko for that matter” He mused, the corners of his lips turning up, as he knew he had the last word on the topic, reversing Buster turned the wheel and smoothly pulled out of the parking space. 

There was silence as they drove down the road till Buster began to tap the steering wheel with his finger, finally deciding to speak again 

“But, if something did happen last night you know I don’t judge, in fact I would congrad-” “PLOTZ ON A UNICYCLE! WE DIDNT SLEEP TOGETHER!” Yakkos forehead hit the window he was closest too, hoping the coolness of the glass would calm his burning cheeks, cackling buzzed through the air compliment of Buster, who found great satisfaction in Yakkos suffering. 

“well the scene I walked in on said other wise~” there was a singsong tone to the bluetoons voice, causing Yakko to throw up the hoodies hood and scream into the fabric, “WE SLEPT AND NOTHING ELSE!...you're a sadist you know that?” that only made Buster laugh harder.


	10. Chapter 9: Skating is a cute date idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> part 2 of the previous chapter.  
> Soooo turns out I accually have to break chapter 8 up into 3 parts XD the original idea came out much longer then i expected so im so sorry that this chapter is as long as it is- 
> 
> I had fun writing this chapter, ever since my country went into lockdown and covid happend ive missed being able to do fun things like this.

After a well-deserved shower and breakfast, Yakko found himself upside down on the couch, neither of his siblings were home, Wakko had left early for band practice, Yakko had found the note in the kitchen, And he knew from last night that Dot decided to stay in the socrity house with Bab’s and Shirley, so he probably wouldn’t see her till they were at the rink. 

It was quite....too quite, and Yakko hated that, He never knew what to do with the quite. Ever since they moved off the Warner’s movie lot and out of Burbank for college, everything had felt a little off balance, Dot and Wakko seemed to adjust rather quickly to the new setting, quick to make friends and find their place, but Yakko was still attempting to find his footing, though he had made some friends, it felt like every time he dipped his toe in the water, he lost his footing. The fear of letting himself trust the unknown always controlled him, and he didn’t know how to break from it, in fact it was this fear that made him almost envious of everyone he had met, he had yet to meet someone his age with the same fear, They all seemed to be able to try something new without thinking of the coincidences. He wanted to be like that. 

Throwing an arm over his eyes, The toon sighed, pulling himself up and letting his blood flow come back to where it was supposed to be, curling up into the corner of the couch Yakko kept himself occupied with watching videos on his phone, mostly compilations of bugs bunny to pass the time till someone came to pick him up. 

Despite wearing his own clothes, Yakko couldn’t help but to wear Max’s hoodie over them, convincing himself it was only for the time being and because it was cold, soon an hour went by when Yakko was startled from his thoughts by the honk of a car horn. 

Quickly standing he pulled the red hoodie off, shivering at the sudden chill for a moment, before he carefully folded the hoodie, placing it on the side of the couch, glancing to the window he noticed a car in the driveway and came to the conclusion it must have been his ride. 

Quickly the toon strode over to the coat rack and pulled a green duffle coat off the hook, Sure yakko owned other clothes that were not the color green or smokey topaz, but he had gotten so used to the color system he and his siblings had as kids, that was created to stop fights over toys and clothes, that the toon hardly noticed a majority of his wardrobe was the same color. 

Slipping it on, yakko gave himself a quick, check, phone? Check. Wallet? Check. Keys? Check? Kazoo incase of spontanious musical number? Double check. 

Smiling to himself Yakko was quick to step outside, and lit up upon seeing Buster’s car, quickly locking the door he bounced down the steps, and to the back where he had to shimmy his way to the back seats, seeing as Buster owned a minivan, with-in the mini van was of course Buster, Bab’s, Dot, Shirley, plucky and Dizzy. 

With some quick hellos, it was off to the ice rink, the radio blaring a random playlist of soundtracks, as everyone chatted happily among themselves, well almost everyone. Plucky currently had his head against the window groaning from a hangover. 

It only took a total of 20 minutes before they reached the rink, and with 10 minutes to spare, everyone could take their time climbing out, the rink was one of those, only open for winter ones, so it was built inside this building that looked like a log cabin. Within the building there was two separate rinks, one for kids and then a bigger one for everyone else, off to the side there was a small wooden shack that sold hot chocolate and crepes with a few tables beside it, and fairy lights decorated the ceiling, overall it was a snazzy place. 

Yakko was distracted for a moment before he heard the chatter of another group behind them, before he got a nudge to his side, curtesy of his sister 

“lover boy 2 o clock~” was all he heard before he looked up to be met with the wide smile of the object of his affections, Max stood there amongst his group, looking fresher than he had this morning, though that was not hard to, the wonder of a shower one supposed. With him was Pj, Roxanne, Arthur Read from Max’s course and Arthurs friend Buster Baxter, who most tended to call Baxter to not cause confusion between the two Busters. They were exchange students from Canada, Yakko had spoken to them a few times, but they were more friends of Max’s than his own. 

He couldn’t help but to perk up once Max was in his sight, eyes also trained on Yakko. 

Dot leaned towards Shirley and whispers “Could these two be more anymore obvious? You could stop the googoo eyes from a mile away.” Shirley glanced to Dot as she pulled pink gloves on, before blue eyes looked towards the two toons in question. 

“Like totally, Like Yakko doesn’t even have his glasses on, and he like totally spotted Max as soon as he like came in” was Shirleys response, blonde hair flipping over her shoulder. The duck toon could spot a crush faster than she could spot a splint end in her hair, though it was not that hard to when the crushing toons in question were these two dorks, that made it painfully obviously to anyone that looked at the,. 

Max and his group made their way over happily, Yakko being the first to get a greeting, “Yakko! And uh- group- hey! This is Roxanne: he introduced gesturing to the red head beside him, who smiled shyly brushing hair behind her ear. “ A friend from home” he explained, earning a chours of greetings back, plucky pushing his way to the front and bowing, 

“Well hello, my names plucky but you can call me yours~” he was trying to be smooth but that ultimately failed when he got a hit to the back of the head, from non-other than shirley, 

“Like totally ew, like Hi!~ im Shirely you got such like gorgoues hair!” she complimented, now holding plucky, her boyfriend by the collar of his shirt “Like totally sorry, Plucky cant help himself sometimes” she admitted, earning a sweet bubble of laughter from Roxanne. 

which caused Yakko to tense up, not only was this girl beautiful but even her laughter was like the sound of angels, that was totally not fair, Yakko found himself housing that ugly feeling in the pit of his stomach one again, he didn’t know what it was, but it felt like a stomach ache, blaming it on last nights choice of drink and food, he decided to ignore it, not letting it ruin his day. 

“It’s ok! Really, It was quite the greeting and you think so? Thank you, your hair is beyond beautiful, how do you get it to curl like that?” The new toon asked, smiling in an almost blinding fashion, shit and her voice was soft to, everything about her screamed dream girl, no wonder Max had a crush on her and dated her before. 

She instantly won Shirley over, as the smallest bit of flattery could win the duck toon over, However Roxannes interest was quickly peeked by her eye catching Yakko in the back of the ground, his hands in his coat pockets, rocking on his heels looking away. Her eyes instantly sparkled as she excused herself and made her way directly to Yakko. 

“Yakko Warner right? Ive heard so much about you!” she chimed, bouncing happily on the spot, her hands taking Yakkos in a friendly manner, He couldn’t help the small flush that dusted his cheeks, Jealousy or not a pretty girl was still a pretty girl, he couldn’t help but crack a small smile, “Ya have? Have you? From who? Or are you perhaps a fan?” he teased, knowing that was not it, getting a sweet bubble of laughter from her. 

“I wouldn’t say I'm not~ but Max here never stops talking about you!” was her response, causing Yakko to pause and perk up in interest, “He doesn’t?” he asked, glancing over her shoulder to see a mortified Max watching it all go down, before looking back to her. 

Roxanne quickly shook her head, “No! He does not! I am so happy to finally meet you! Every time I call- its- ‘yakko this ‘and ‘yakko that’ and then the occasional ‘ya know Roxanne Yakko really I-MPH" her rant came to a stop when Max’s hand covered her mouth and he pulled her back completely red faced. 

“What Roxxie is trying to say, is that I talk alott- about ALL of my friends- but you're my best friend. Isn't that right? Roxanne” he asked giving her the stink eye which was silently begging her to stop talking, too scared to remove his hand in case she said something all the more incriminating, he waited till she gave a nod, before slowly slipping his hand way. 

Yakko watched the whole interaction with a critical eye, he could tell by their simple movements and speech patterns that they were close, very much so, Yakko could not help it as that pit in the bottom of his stomach grew more, as he wondered....hoped that he and Max looked half as close as he was with Roxanne. However, the moment was interrupted by Buster calling the attention of everyone, 

“Alright so since our group is bigger than 10 people, we only have to pay 6 dollars and we got these coupons for a free drink or crepe” Ever the leader Buster was already gesturing for everyone to line up and pay, For half broke college students, the mere idea of a discount was enough to get a buzz going, quickly they all lined up, Yakko right in front of Roxanne and Max, sadly he couldn’t listen in on their conversation as Plucky had dragged him into hearing about the ducks pounding head ache, causing the warner to tune out altogether. 

Leaving Roxie and Max to chat among themselves, 

“He’s rather cute” Roxanne mused leaning back to Max who was frowning, “I can see why you like him! Though he isn't nearly as chatty as you claimed” she admitted with a small laugh, which caused Max to look to the toon in front of them, who seemed completely out of it as Plunky vented to him. 

“..Ya, its very unlike him, he is probably just still tired from last night” he mummered, wondering what got into the shorter toon, he noticed since they arrived, he was quieter than usual, it was almost concerning to the goof, but for now at least he decided it was probably nothing. The party had probably taken a lot out of him. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

It took awhile for everyone to pay and to get their skates on, for the most part everyone seemed to be doing fine, They were already on the ice, wobbeling about and falling with bursts of laughter, clutching to the side of the rink for dear life, while Yakko was still struggling to tie the damn laces of his skates, It was reasons like these that he didn’t wear shoes if he could help it, glaring down to his feet, he tried again, only for the knot to be too loose, huffing he was about to give up when a shadow came over him, 

“need help?” 

Looking up Yakko was instantly relaxed by the familiar face that was Max. 

“..Is It pathetic if I said yes?” he asked, feeling emmbarest that he could not tie his own laces properly, earning a chuckle from his friend, that made him believe that the embarrassment was worth it, taking a seat on bench across from the suffering toon Max gave his lap a pat, inviting Yakko to put his foot up, careful of the blades, he placed his foot on the others lap. 

“Not at all, these things can be tricky, besides, you don’t usual use shoes with laces, right?” he asked, sparing a glance to Yakko, his hands already working on undoing the shoelaces, relacing them entirely and tightening them, “and it's nice to know that there's something the great Yakko Warner can't do~” there was no malice to his tone, only high-spirts and warmth, smiling as he gave the now tied skate a pat so Yakko would drop it and bring up the other one. 

Laughter slipped from Yakkos lips as he leaned back on his hands, watching Max at work, “Theres plenty I cant do ya know, but I understand your confusion~ a fine toon such as myself! Should be good at everything!” there was a dramatic sigh mixed into his words, making Max roll his eyes though there was nothing but love written on his face. 

“Mm yes I am completely shocked” Tone dripping with sarcasm “But seriously, what else is there you cant do?” Because Max had honestly had yet to see Yakko fail at something that wasn’t drinking, drinking was the only fail he had witnessed. 

“Well for one....I cant skate. Anything to do with balance will have me face down in the floor. I cant even walk on a slippy sidewalk” He admitted, noticing how Max’s hands stopped what they were doing and looked to yakko in with a bemused expression, something that came so naturally to Max, was something that Yakko struggled with, It was hard for Max to imagine anyone having a hard time with these activities. 

“Really? You sure youre not saying this to baffle me with your skill once were out on the ice~?” he asked leaning forward as though trying to coax the truth out of the Warner, who almost instantly gestured to the rink, 

“Have you seen Dot? I assure you I'm just as bad.” and as if on cue there was a loud yelp and then thud heard from the rink, from non-other than Dot Warner who couldn’t even stand up straight yet, causing Max to flinch at the sound of skin hitting ice. Though he couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of Yakko attempting ice skating. 

“Well it’s a good thing you have me here then, with a pro on your side you will be skating in no-time" Max swore, now removing Yakkos foot from his lap and instead taking his hands to help pull him up to standing. The comedy toon couldn’t help but wobble like a newborn giraffe, even without the ice this was already proving to be a disaster. 

His grip tightened on Max’s hands, hoping that by holding tighter it would at least stable his legs a little bit. “oh, and where is this so-called pro?” he teased promptly earning him a nudge that nearly knocked him off balance, “don't taunt the one that's keeping you standing.” was the goof's response, and though he felt a little bad for Yakko he could not deny that having the toon depending and leaning on him, filled him with a rather selfish warmth. 

“come on dude, just one step at a time, think about the time you rode the unicycle to class, that was balance” he explained helping Yakko make his way to the opening of the rink, first max stepped onto the ice, swiftly and with a painful about of ease, he turned offering his hands to Yakko, laughing at the glare he received, “What have I done now?” he asked, unaware by how much his talent for the ice turned Yakkos gears. 

“Nothing, I just don’t like being bad at things” He admitted reaching out and taking Max’s hands, he slid onto the ice with hesitant, yelping as. One leg instantly flew out more than the other, bringing himself to nearly split, if not for Max he might have, but thanks to Max’s talents, he slid forward an arm wrapping around Yakkos waist, and with speed pulling him to stand straight without haste. 

As they were now, they were once again flush together, but this time in a way that made the butterflies in their stomachs flutter, Yakkos hands gripping onto Max’s sleeves tightly, as in this moment of time they were his lifeline, They were once again lost in their own little world of staring, before dizzy skated past, in an oddly graceful manner for the psychotic toon, giving a whistle, causing both of them to jolt, Yakko going to move back, but his feet not allowing him to as they went into a frenzied dance under him, Max jumped into action, moving so that they were no-longer so intimate, and instead held Yakko by the shoulders, now to the side of the toon, After a moment he was steadied. 

“Relax man, here look- I got you see? I swear I won't let you fall” he promised, earning a shaky chuckle from the shorter toon “you cannot guarantee that!” only to quite him with a simple phrase “I can't. But I can promise to catch you.” it succeeded in stilling the toon for a moment, causing his to go red in the face, though he would blame it on the cold room, Yakko for once was at a loss for words. So instead, he did was he was best at in hopes of filling the silence, spewing a random fact- “you know the moon has moonquakes-” causing Max’s expression to scrunch in momentary confusion before amusement overtook it. 

“I didn’t, but now that’s all I'm going to be thinking about, thanks” he snorted, “So are you ready to focus on learning or do you have any more fun facts for me?” he asked, though he noticed for this moment, Yakko had been still on his legs, Not slipping or sliding, giving Max an idea, perhaps all that Yakko needed was a distraction, to not think so much. So with that in mind he decided to convince yakko to do what he was best at. Yak. 

“Actually- do tell me more your facts, in curious” he asked, eyes darting down to Yakkos feet for back up, still keeping a hold on him as he slowly skated forward, for a moment Yakkos breath seemed to hold went he was jostled forward on the skates, slipping slightly, but managing to at least wobble less. 

“you are?” he asked, not believing Max for a second, but concluded if Max wanted him to talk then he would talk, finally someone who recognized the importance of meaningless knowledge. 

“Of course, you are! Well then in that case~ California has a bigger population then all of Canada” It sounded fake, but it was true, at least that is what Yakko had once read. “I find it rather ridiculous but hey! How hard is it to beat a population in a country that doesn’t exist~” it was a playful jab at Arthur who just happened to be skating by, the toon gave an eyeroll, 

“I heard that Yakko” to which Yakko responded “did you hear something?” earning him a stern look from Max before Yakko laughed, holding up his hands in surrender, “alright, alright fine Canada exists and Hi Arthur~” It earned him a grumble from Arthur and a sigh from Max, However the Goof took this moment to loosen his hold on the Warner's elbows, hoping he would not notice. Luckily he didn’t. 

Still happily yapping about this and that and random facts, Max barely heard what Yakko was on about, as he was too distracted with the excited way Yakkos hands explained the stories, and the smile on his face as he talked happily, completely observed in his own world to the point that he hardly noticed that his feet were moving on their own, following the movements of Max, even if he did not notice. It was only that Max noticed or the accomplishment would go unawarded. 

“yakko” he uttered softly, though it fell to deaf ears, so with a small laugh he said it a bit louder “Yakko,” getting the toons attention, an ear perked in curiosity, “look down” Max encouraged, watching as Yakko glanced down to his moving feet, almost slipping from surprise, if it was not for his hands catching Max’s own, a laugh bursting from him. 

“I'm skating!” he exclaimed, though now a little wobblily, but luckily not as much as before, eyes shining in wonder as he stared down at the ice before snapping his head up to his teacher “IM SKATING! AND NOT FALLING!” he would exclaim. Clutching onto his partners hands with determination, Max to give an enthusiastic nod “YOU ARE!” and in response Yakko cackled “I AM!” before jumping forward crashing into Max with a hug effectively throwing them both off balance. 

Yakko had never been one to think his actions fully through once excitement kicked in, and he only realized his mistake when they met the ice, shutting his eyes tight, he opened them to find himself on top of Max, panicking when he saw a flash of pain on his friends face and a wince past his lips, Yakko began to freak out, and end up his hand, “Max! Dude! Are you alight!? How many fingers am I holding up!?” he asked waving 3 fingers directly in Max’s face. 

However Max’s gaze was unfocused for a moment, and when his eyes finally did focus, they were cross eyes before he suddenly laughed letting out a might ‘hyuck’ before covering his mouth with both hands, sniggering into them as Yakko fretting over him still waving his fingers in Max’s face, only stopped when the goof reached out and caught his hand, leaning up slightly to the point their noses booped, “see. I caught you.” was all he had to say, a goofy smile on his face. The line caught Yakko off guard enough to make him stare unblinking for a moment, before a small “pfh-” past his lips, not believing how much of a dork this toon was 

“I guess you did” he sniggered, crawling backwards “but seriously are you ok?” he asked, still not getting up, mostly because he didn’t know how to. 

Max sat up without much hassle, “A bit winded but I had worse falls from my skateboard” he admitted with a hum, giving his head a small knock “Got a good strong head” he swore, being the first to get up, but slowly to show Yakko how to do it, Yakko though skeptical did as he shown, wobbling slightly with his knees knocking together. 

“Well strong head or not, how bout we get outta here” he asked thumbing behind him, “use those coupons we got, better to make sure you don’t have a concussion” he suggested, latching onto the wall beside him, they weren't on the ice long but Max decided if it was to give Yakko peace of mind, he might as well go on with what the toon wanted. He was sure he was fine, but knew Yakko would probably fake injury just to get him off the rink if it came to it. 

“Sure, besides I wanted to try the crepes” he hummed, offering his arm to Yakko, but now the shorter toon was stubborn and refused the offered arm, deciding that he would try and make it to the wall himself, 

After a well-deserved shower and breakfast, Yakko found himself upside down on the couch, neither of his siblings were home, Wakko had left early for band practice, Yakko had found the note in the kitchen, And he knew from last night that Dot decided to stay in the socrity house with Bab’s and Shirley, so he probably wouldn’t see her till they were at the rink. 

It was quite....too quite, and Yakko hated that, He never knew what to do with the quite. Ever since they moved off the Warner’s movie lot and out of Burbank for college, everything had felt a little off balance, Dot and Wakko seemed to adjust rather quickly to the new setting, quick to make friends and find their place, but Yakko was still attempting to find his footing, though he had made some friends, it felt like every time he dipped his toe in the water, he lost his footing. The fear of letting himself trust the unknown always controlled him, and he didn’t know how to break from it, in fact it was this fear that made him almost envious of everyone he had met, he had yet to meet someone his age with the same fear, They all seemed to be able to try something new without thinking of the coincidences. He wanted to be like that. 

Throwing an arm over his eyes, The toon sighed, pulling himself up and letting his blood flow come back to where it was supposed to be, curling up into the corner of the couch Yakko kept himself occupied with watching videos on his phone, mostly compilations of bugs bunny to pass the time till someone came to pick him up. 

Despite wearing his own clothes, Yakko couldn’t help but to wear Max’s hoodie over them, convincing himself it was only for the time being and because it was cold, soon an hour went by when Yakko was startled from his thoughts by the honk of a car horn. 

Quickly standing he pulled the red hoodie off, shivering at the sudden chill for a moment, before he carefully folded the hoodie, placing it on the side of the couch, glancing to the window he noticed a car in the driveway and came to the conclusion it must have been his ride. 

Quickly the toon strode over to the coat rack and pulled a green duffle coat off the hook, Sure yakko owned other clothes that were not the color green or smokey topaz, but he had gotten so used to the color system he and his siblings had as kids, that was created to stop fights over toys and clothes, that the toon hardly noticed a majority of his wardrobe was the same color. 

Slipping it on, yakko gave himself a quick, check, phone? Check. Wallet? Check. Keys? Check? Kazoo incase of spontanious musical number? Double check. 

Smiling to himself Yakko was quick to step outside, and lit up upon seeing Buster’s car, quickly locking the door he bounced down the steps, and to the back where he had to shimmy his way to the back seats, seeing as Buster owned a minivan, with-in the mini van was of course Buster, Bab’s, Dot, Shirley, plucky and Dizzy. 

With some quick hellos, it was off to the ice rink, the radio blaring a random playlist of soundtracks, as everyone chatted happily among themselves, well almost everyone. Plucky currently had his head against the window groaning from a hangover. 

It only took a total of 20 minutes before they reached the rink, and with 10 minutes to spare, everyone could take their time climbing out, the rink was one of those, only open for winter ones, so it was built inside this building that looked like a log cabin. Within the building there was two separate rinks, one for kids and then a bigger one for everyone else, off to the side there was a small wooden shack that sold hot chocolate and crepes with a few tables beside it, and fairy lights decorated the ceiling, overall it was a snazzy place. 

Yakko was distracted for a moment before he heard the chatter of another group behind them, before he got a nudge to his side, curtesy of his sister 

“lover boy 2 o clock~” was all he heard before he looked up to be met with the wide smile of the object of his affections, Max stood there amongst his group, looking fresher than he had this morning, though that was not hard to, the wonder of a shower one supposed. With him was Pj, Roxanne, Arthur Read from Max’s course and Arthurs friend Buster Baxter, who most tended to call Baxter to not cause confusion between the two Busters. They were exchange students from Canada, Yakko had spoken to them a few times, but they were more friends of Max’s than his own. 

He couldn’t help but to perk up once Max was in his sight, eyes also trained on Yakko. 

Dot leaned towards Shirley and whispers “Could these two be more anymore obvious? You could stop the googoo eyes from a mile away.” Shirley glanced to Dot as she pulled pink gloves on, before blue eyes looked towards the two toons in question. 

“Like totally, Like Yakko doesn’t even have his glasses on, and he like totally spotted Max as soon as he like came in” was Shirleys response, blonde hair flipping over her shoulder. The duck toon could spot a crush faster than she could spot a splint end in her hair, though it was not that hard to when the crushing toons in question were these two dorks, that made it painfully obviously to anyone that looked at the,. 

Max and his group made their way over happily, Yakko being the first to get a greeting, “Yakko! And uh- group- hey! This is Roxanne: he introduced gesturing to the red head beside him, who smiled shyly brushing hair behind her ear. “ A friend from home” he explained, earning a chours of greetings back, plucky pushing his way to the front and bowing, 

“Well hello, my names plucky but you can call me yours~” he was trying to be smooth but that ultimately failed when he got a hit to the back of the head, from non-other than shirley, 

“Like totally ew, like Hi!~ im Shirely you got such like gorgoues hair!” she complimented, now holding plucky, her boyfriend by the collar of his shirt “Like totally sorry, Plucky cant help himself sometimes” she admitted, earning a sweet bubble of laughter from Roxanne. 

which caused Yakko to tense up, not only was this girl beautiful but even her laughter was like the sound of angels, that was totally not fair, Yakko found himself housing that ugly feeling in the pit of his stomach one again, he didn’t know what it was, but it felt like a stomach ache, blaming it on last nights choice of drink and food, he decided to ignore it, not letting it ruin his day. 

“It’s ok! Really, It was quite the greeting and you think so? Thank you, your hair is beyond beautiful, how do you get it to curl like that?” The new toon asked, smiling in an almost blinding fashion, shit and her voice was soft to, everything about her screamed dream girl, no wonder Max had a crush on her and dated her before. 

She instantly won Shirley over, as the smallest bit of flattery could win the duck toon over, However Roxannes interest was quickly peeked by her eye catching Yakko in the back of the ground, his hands in his coat pockets, rocking on his heels looking away. Her eyes instantly sparkled as she excused herself and made her way directly to Yakko. 

“Yakko Warner right? Ive heard so much about you!” she chimed, bouncing happily on the spot, her hands taking Yakkos in a friendly manner, He couldn’t help the small flush that dusted his cheeks, Jealousy or not a pretty girl was still a pretty girl, he couldn’t help but crack a small smile, “Ya have? Have you? From who? Or are you perhaps a fan?” he teased, knowing that was not it, getting a sweet bubble of laughter from her. 

“I wouldn’t say I'm not~ but Max here never stops talking about you!” was her response, causing Yakko to pause and perk up in interest, “He doesn’t?” he asked, glancing over her shoulder to see a mortified Max watching it all go down, before looking back to her. 

Roxanne quickly shook her head, “No! He does not! I am so happy to finally meet you! Every time I call- its- ‘yakko this ‘and ‘yakko that’ and then the occasional ‘ya know Roxanne Yakko really I-MPH" her rant came to a stop when Max’s hand covered her mouth and he pulled her back completely red faced. 

“What Roxxie is trying to say, is that I talk alott- about ALL of my friends- but you're my best friend. Isn't that right? Roxanne” he asked giving her the stink eye which was silently begging her to stop talking, too scared to remove his hand in case she said something all the more incriminating, he waited till she gave a nod, before slowly slipping his hand way. 

Yakko watched the whole interaction with a critical eye, he could tell by their simple movements and speech patterns that they were close, very much so, Yakko could not help it as that pit in the bottom of his stomach grew more, as he wondered....hoped that he and Max looked half as close as he was with Roxanne. However, the moment was interrupted by Buster calling the attention of everyone, 

“Alright so since our group is bigger than 10 people, we only have to pay 6 dollars and we got these coupons for a free drink or crepe” Ever the leader Buster was already gesturing for everyone to line up and pay, For half broke college students, the mere idea of a discount was enough to get a buzz going, quickly they all lined up, Yakko right in front of Roxanne and Max, sadly he couldn’t listen in on their conversation as Plucky had dragged him into hearing about the ducks pounding head ache, causing the warner to tune out altogether. 

Leaving Roxie and Max to chat among themselves, 

“He’s rather cute” Roxanne mused leaning back to Max who was frowning, “I can see why you like him! Though he isn't nearly as chatty as you claimed” she admitted with a small laugh, which caused Max to look to the toon in front of them, who seemed completely out of it as Plunky vented to him. 

“..Ya, its very unlike him, he is probably just still tired from last night” he mummered, wondering what got into the shorter toon, he noticed since they arrived, he was quieter than usual, it was almost concerning to the goof, but for now at least he decided it was probably nothing. The party had probably taken a lot out of him. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

It took awhile for everyone to pay and to get their skates on, for the most part everyone seemed to be doing fine, They were already on the ice, wobbeling about and falling with bursts of laughter, clutching to the side of the rink for dear life, while Yakko was still struggling to tie the damn laces of his skates, It was reasons like these that he didn’t wear shoes if he could help it, glaring down to his feet, he tried again, only for the knot to be too loose, huffing he was about to give up when a shadow came over him, 

“need help?” 

Looking up Yakko was instantly relaxed by the familiar face that was Max. 

“..Is It pathetic if I said yes?” he asked, feeling emmbarest that he could not tie his own laces properly, earning a chuckle from his friend, that made him believe that the embarrassment was worth it, taking a seat on bench across from the suffering toon Max gave his lap a pat, inviting Yakko to put his foot up, careful of the blades, he placed his foot on the others lap. 

“Not at all, these things can be tricky, besides, you don’t usual use shoes with laces, right?” he asked, sparing a glance to Yakko, his hands already working on undoing the shoelaces, relacing them entirely and tightening them, “and it's nice to know that there's something the great Yakko Warner can't do~” there was no malice to his tone, only high-spirts and warmth, smiling as he gave the now tied skate a pat so Yakko would drop it and bring up the other one. 

Laughter slipped from Yakkos lips as he leaned back on his hands, watching Max at work, “Theres plenty I cant do ya know, but I understand your confusion~ a fine toon such as myself! Should be good at everything!” there was a dramatic sigh mixed into his words, making Max roll his eyes though there was nothing but love written on his face. 

“Mm yes I am completely shocked” Tone dripping with sarcasm “But seriously, what else is there you cant do?” Because Max had honestly had yet to see Yakko fail at something that wasn’t drinking, drinking was the only fail he had witnessed. 

“Well for one....I cant skate. Anything to do with balance will have me face down in the floor. I cant even walk on a slippy sidewalk” He admitted, noticing how Max’s hands stopped what they were doing and looked to yakko in with a bemused expression, something that came so naturally to Max, was something that Yakko struggled with, It was hard for Max to imagine anyone having a hard time with these activities. 

“Really? You sure youre not saying this to baffle me with your skill once were out on the ice~?” he asked leaning forward as though trying to coax the truth out of the Warner, who almost instantly gestured to the rink, 

“Have you seen Dot? I assure you I'm just as bad.” and as if on cue there was a loud yelp and then thud heard from the rink, from non-other than Dot Warner who couldn’t even stand up straight yet, causing Max to flinch at the sound of skin hitting ice. Though he couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of Yakko attempting ice skating. 

“Well it’s a good thing you have me here then, with a pro on your side you will be skating in no-time" Max swore, now removing Yakkos foot from his lap and instead taking his hands to help pull him up to standing. The comedy toon couldn’t help but wobble like a newborn giraffe, even without the ice this was already proving to be a disaster. 

His grip tightened on Max’s hands, hoping that by holding tighter it would at least stable his legs a little bit. “oh, and where is this so-called pro?” he teased promptly earning him a nudge that nearly knocked him off balance, “don't taunt the one that's keeping you standing.” was the goof's response, and though he felt a little bad for Yakko he could not deny that having the toon depending and leaning on him, filled him with a rather selfish warmth. 

“come on dude, just one step at a time, think about the time you rode the unicycle to class, that was balance” he explained helping Yakko make his way to the opening of the rink, first max stepped onto the ice, swiftly and with a painful about of ease, he turned offering his hands to Yakko, laughing at the glare he received, “What have I done now?” he asked, unaware by how much his talent for the ice turned Yakkos gears. 

“Nothing, I just don’t like being bad at things” He admitted reaching out and taking Max’s hands, he slid onto the ice with hesitant, yelping as. One leg instantly flew out more than the other, bringing himself to nearly split, if not for Max he might have, but thanks to Max’s talents, he slid forward an arm wrapping around Yakkos waist, and with speed pulling him to stand straight without haste. 

As they were now, they were once again flush together, but this time in a way that made the butterflies in their stomachs flutter, Yakkos hands gripping onto Max’s sleeves tightly, as in this moment of time they were his lifeline, They were once again lost in their own little world of staring, before dizzy skated past, in an oddly graceful manner for the psychotic toon, giving a whistle, causing both of them to jolt, Yakko going to move back, but his feet not allowing him to as they went into a frenzied dance under him, Max jumped into action, moving so that they were no-longer so intimate, and instead held Yakko by the shoulders, now to the side of the toon, After a moment he was steadied. 

“Relax man, here look- I got you see? I swear I won't let you fall” he promised, earning a shaky chuckle from the shorter toon “you cannot guarantee that!” only to quite him with a simple phrase “I can't. But I can promise to catch you.” it succeeded in stilling the toon for a moment, causing his to go red in the face, though he would blame it on the cold room, Yakko for once was at a loss for words. So instead, he did was he was best at in hopes of filling the silence, spewing a random fact- “you know the moon has moonquakes-” causing Max’s expression to scrunch in momentary confusion before amusement overtook it. 

“I didn’t, but now that’s all I'm going to be thinking about, thanks” he snorted, “So are you ready to focus on learning or do you have any more fun facts for me?” he asked, though he noticed for this moment, Yakko had been still on his legs, Not slipping or sliding, giving Max an idea, perhaps all that Yakko needed was a distraction, to not think so much. So with that in mind he decided to convince yakko to do what he was best at. Yak. 

“Actually- do tell me more your facts, in curious” he asked, eyes darting down to Yakkos feet for back up, still keeping a hold on him as he slowly skated forward, for a moment Yakkos breath seemed to hold went he was jostled forward on the skates, slipping slightly, but managing to at least wobble less. 

“you are?” he asked, not believing Max for a second, but concluded if Max wanted him to talk then he would talk, finally someone who recognized the importance of meaningless knowledge. 

“Of course, you are! Well then in that case~ California has a bigger population then all of Canada” It sounded fake, but it was true, at least that is what Yakko had once read. “I find it rather ridiculous but hey! How hard is it to beat a population in a country that doesn’t exist~” it was a playful jab at Arthur who just happened to be skating by, the toon gave an eyeroll, 

“I heard that Yakko” to which Yakko responded “did you hear something?” earning him a stern look from Max before Yakko laughed, holding up his hands in surrender, “alright, alright fine Canada exists and Hi Arthur~” It earned him a grumble from Arthur and a sigh from Max, However the Goof took this moment to loosen his hold on the Warner's elbows, hoping he would not notice. Luckily he didn’t. 

Still happily yapping about this and that and random facts, Max barely heard what Yakko was on about, as he was too distracted with the excited way Yakkos hands explained the stories, and the smile on his face as he talked happily, completely observed in his own world to the point that he hardly noticed that his feet were moving on their own, following the movements of Max, even if he did not notice. It was only that Max noticed or the accomplishment would go unawarded. 

“yakko” he uttered softly, though it fell to deaf ears, so with a small laugh he said it a bit louder “Yakko,” getting the toons attention, an ear perked in curiosity, “look down” Max encouraged, watching as Yakko glanced down to his moving feet, almost slipping from surprise, if it was not for his hands catching Max’s own, a laugh bursting from him. 

“I'm skating!” he exclaimed, though now a little wobblily, but luckily not as much as before, eyes shining in wonder as he stared down at the ice before snapping his head up to his teacher “IM SKATING! AND NOT FALLING!” he would exclaim. Clutching onto his partners hands with determination, Max to give an enthusiastic nod “YOU ARE!” and in response Yakko cackled “I AM!” before jumping forward crashing into Max with a hug effectively throwing them both off balance. 

Yakko had never been one to think his actions fully through once excitement kicked in, and he only realized his mistake when they met the ice, shutting his eyes tight, he opened them to find himself on top of Max, panicking when he saw a flash of pain on his friends face and a wince past his lips, Yakko began to freak out, and end up his hand, “Max! Dude! Are you alight!? How many fingers am I holding up!?” he asked waving 3 fingers directly in Max’s face. 

However Max’s gaze was unfocused for a moment, and when his eyes finally did focus, they were cross eyes before he suddenly laughed letting out a might ‘hyuck’ before covering his mouth with both hands, sniggering into them as Yakko fretting over him still waving his fingers in Max’s face, only stopped when the goof reached out and caught his hand, leaning up slightly to the point their noses booped, “see. I caught you.” was all he had to say, a goofy smile on his face. The line caught Yakko off guard enough to make him stare unblinking for a moment, before a small “pfh-” past his lips, not believing how much of a dork this toon was 

“I guess you did” he sniggered, crawling backwards “but seriously are you ok?” he asked, still not getting up, mostly because he didn’t know how to. 

Max sat up without much hassle, “A bit winded but I had worse falls from my skateboard” he admitted with a hum, giving his head a small knock “Got a good strong head” he swore, being the first to get up, but slowly to show Yakko how to do it, Yakko though skeptical did as he shown, wobbling slightly with his knees knocking together. 

“Well strong head or not, how bout we get outta here” he asked thumbing behind him, “use those coupons we got, better to make sure you don’t have a concussion” he suggested, latching onto the wall beside him, they weren't on the ice long but Max decided if it was to give Yakko peace of mind, he might as well go on with what the toon wanted. He was sure he was fine, but knew Yakko would probably fake injury just to get him off the rink if it came to it. 

“Sure, besides I wanted to try the crepes” he hummed, offering his arm to Yakko, but now the shorter toon was stubborn and refused the offered arm, deciding that he would try and make it to the wall himself, 

After a well-deserved shower and breakfast, Yakko found himself upside down on the couch, neither of his siblings were home, Wakko had left early for band practice, Yakko had found the note in the kitchen, And he knew from last night that Dot decided to stay in the socrity house with Bab’s and Shirley, so he probably wouldn’t see her till they were at the rink. 

It was quite....too quite, and Yakko hated that, He never knew what to do with the quite. Ever since they moved off the Warner’s movie lot and out of Burbank for college, everything had felt a little off balance, Dot and Wakko seemed to adjust rather quickly to the new setting, quick to make friends and find their place, but Yakko was still attempting to find his footing, though he had made some friends, it felt like every time he dipped his toe in the water, he lost his footing. The fear of letting himself trust the unknown always controlled him, and he didn’t know how to break from it, in fact it was this fear that made him almost envious of everyone he had met, he had yet to meet someone his age with the same fear, They all seemed to be able to try something new without thinking of the coincidences. He wanted to be like that. 

Throwing an arm over his eyes, The toon sighed, pulling himself up and letting his blood flow come back to where it was supposed to be, curling up into the corner of the couch Yakko kept himself occupied with watching videos on his phone, mostly compilations of bugs bunny to pass the time till someone came to pick him up. 

Despite wearing his own clothes, Yakko couldn’t help but to wear Max’s hoodie over them, convincing himself it was only for the time being and because it was cold, soon an hour went by when Yakko was startled from his thoughts by the honk of a car horn. 

Quickly standing he pulled the red hoodie off, shivering at the sudden chill for a moment, before he carefully folded the hoodie, placing it on the side of the couch, glancing to the window he noticed a car in the driveway and came to the conclusion it must have been his ride. 

Quickly the toon strode over to the coat rack and pulled a green duffle coat off the hook, Sure yakko owned other clothes that were not the color green or smokey topaz, but he had gotten so used to the color system he and his siblings had as kids, that was created to stop fights over toys and clothes, that the toon hardly noticed a majority of his wardrobe was the same color. 

Slipping it on, yakko gave himself a quick, check, phone? Check. Wallet? Check. Keys? Check? Kazoo incase of spontanious musical number? Double check. 

Smiling to himself Yakko was quick to step outside, and lit up upon seeing Buster’s car, quickly locking the door he bounced down the steps, and to the back where he had to shimmy his way to the back seats, seeing as Buster owned a minivan, with-in the mini van was of course Buster, Bab’s, Dot, Shirley, plucky and Dizzy. 

With some quick hellos, it was off to the ice rink, the radio blaring a random playlist of soundtracks, as everyone chatted happily among themselves, well almost everyone. Plucky currently had his head against the window groaning from a hangover. 

It only took a total of 20 minutes before they reached the rink, and with 10 minutes to spare, everyone could take their time climbing out, the rink was one of those, only open for winter ones, so it was built inside this building that looked like a log cabin. Within the building there was two separate rinks, one for kids and then a bigger one for everyone else, off to the side there was a small wooden shack that sold hot chocolate and crepes with a few tables beside it, and fairy lights decorated the ceiling, overall it was a snazzy place. 

Yakko was distracted for a moment before he heard the chatter of another group behind them, before he got a nudge to his side, curtesy of his sister 

“lover boy 2 o clock~” was all he heard before he looked up to be met with the wide smile of the object of his affections, Max stood there amongst his group, looking fresher than he had this morning, though that was not hard to, the wonder of a shower one supposed. With him was Pj, Roxanne, Arthur Read from Max’s course and Arthurs friend Buster Baxter, who most tended to call Baxter to not cause confusion between the two Busters. They were exchange students from Canada, Yakko had spoken to them a few times, but they were more friends of Max’s than his own. 

He couldn’t help but to perk up once Max was in his sight, eyes also trained on Yakko. 

Dot leaned towards Shirley and whispers “Could these two be more anymore obvious? You could stop the googoo eyes from a mile away.” Shirley glanced to Dot as she pulled pink gloves on, before blue eyes looked towards the two toons in question. 

“Like totally, Like Yakko doesn’t even have his glasses on, and he like totally spotted Max as soon as he like came in” was Shirleys response, blonde hair flipping over her shoulder. The duck toon could spot a crush faster than she could spot a splint end in her hair, though it was not that hard to when the crushing toons in question were these two dorks, that made it painfully obviously to anyone that looked at the,. 

Max and his group made their way over happily, Yakko being the first to get a greeting, “Yakko! And uh- group- hey! This is Roxanne: he introduced gesturing to the red head beside him, who smiled shyly brushing hair behind her ear. “ A friend from home” he explained, earning a chours of greetings back, plucky pushing his way to the front and bowing, 

“Well hello, my names plucky but you can call me yours~” he was trying to be smooth but that ultimately failed when he got a hit to the back of the head, from non-other than shirley, 

“Like totally ew, like Hi!~ im Shirely you got such like gorgoues hair!” she complimented, now holding plucky, her boyfriend by the collar of his shirt “Like totally sorry, Plucky cant help himself sometimes” she admitted, earning a sweet bubble of laughter from Roxanne. 

which caused Yakko to tense up, not only was this girl beautiful but even her laughter was like the sound of angels, that was totally not fair, Yakko found himself housing that ugly feeling in the pit of his stomach one again, he didn’t know what it was, but it felt like a stomach ache, blaming it on last nights choice of drink and food, he decided to ignore it, not letting it ruin his day. 

“It’s ok! Really, It was quite the greeting and you think so? Thank you, your hair is beyond beautiful, how do you get it to curl like that?” The new toon asked, smiling in an almost blinding fashion, shit and her voice was soft to, everything about her screamed dream girl, no wonder Max had a crush on her and dated her before. 

She instantly won Shirley over, as the smallest bit of flattery could win the duck toon over, However Roxannes interest was quickly peeked by her eye catching Yakko in the back of the ground, his hands in his coat pockets, rocking on his heels looking away. Her eyes instantly sparkled as she excused herself and made her way directly to Yakko. 

“Yakko Warner right? Ive heard so much about you!” she chimed, bouncing happily on the spot, her hands taking Yakkos in a friendly manner, He couldn’t help the small flush that dusted his cheeks, Jealousy or not a pretty girl was still a pretty girl, he couldn’t help but crack a small smile, “Ya have? Have you? From who? Or are you perhaps a fan?” he teased, knowing that was not it, getting a sweet bubble of laughter from her. 

“I wouldn’t say I'm not~ but Max here never stops talking about you!” was her response, causing Yakko to pause and perk up in interest, “He doesn’t?” he asked, glancing over her shoulder to see a mortified Max watching it all go down, before looking back to her. 

Roxanne quickly shook her head, “No! He does not! I am so happy to finally meet you! Every time I call- its- ‘yakko this ‘and ‘yakko that’ and then the occasional ‘ya know Roxanne Yakko really I-MPH" her rant came to a stop when Max’s hand covered her mouth and he pulled her back completely red faced. 

“What Roxxie is trying to say, is that I talk alott- about ALL of my friends- but you're my best friend. Isn't that right? Roxanne” he asked giving her the stink eye which was silently begging her to stop talking, too scared to remove his hand in case she said something all the more incriminating, he waited till she gave a nod, before slowly slipping his hand way. 

Yakko watched the whole interaction with a critical eye, he could tell by their simple movements and speech patterns that they were close, very much so, Yakko could not help it as that pit in the bottom of his stomach grew more, as he wondered....hoped that he and Max looked half as close as he was with Roxanne. However, the moment was interrupted by Buster calling the attention of everyone, 

“Alright so since our group is bigger than 10 people, we only have to pay 6 dollars and we got these coupons for a free drink or crepe” Ever the leader Buster was already gesturing for everyone to line up and pay, For half broke college students, the mere idea of a discount was enough to get a buzz going, quickly they all lined up, Yakko right in front of Roxanne and Max, sadly he couldn’t listen in on their conversation as Plucky had dragged him into hearing about the ducks pounding head ache, causing the warner to tune out altogether. 

Leaving Roxie and Max to chat among themselves, 

“He’s rather cute” Roxanne mused leaning back to Max who was frowning, “I can see why you like him! Though he isn't nearly as chatty as you claimed” she admitted with a small laugh, which caused Max to look to the toon in front of them, who seemed completely out of it as Plunky vented to him. 

“..Ya, its very unlike him, he is probably just still tired from last night” he mummered, wondering what got into the shorter toon, he noticed since they arrived, he was quieter than usual, it was almost concerning to the goof, but for now at least he decided it was probably nothing. The party had probably taken a lot out of him. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

It took awhile for everyone to pay and to get their skates on, for the most part everyone seemed to be doing fine, They were already on the ice, wobbeling about and falling with bursts of laughter, clutching to the side of the rink for dear life, while Yakko was still struggling to tie the damn laces of his skates, It was reasons like these that he didn’t wear shoes if he could help it, glaring down to his feet, he tried again, only for the knot to be too loose, huffing he was about to give up when a shadow came over him, 

“need help?” 

Looking up Yakko was instantly relaxed by the familiar face that was Max. 

“..Is It pathetic if I said yes?” he asked, feeling emmbarest that he could not tie his own laces properly, earning a chuckle from his friend, that made him believe that the embarrassment was worth it, taking a seat on bench across from the suffering toon Max gave his lap a pat, inviting Yakko to put his foot up, careful of the blades, he placed his foot on the others lap. 

“Not at all, these things can be tricky, besides, you don’t usual use shoes with laces, right?” he asked, sparing a glance to Yakko, his hands already working on undoing the shoelaces, relacing them entirely and tightening them, “and it's nice to know that there's something the great Yakko Warner can't do~” there was no malice to his tone, only high-spirts and warmth, smiling as he gave the now tied skate a pat so Yakko would drop it and bring up the other one. 

Laughter slipped from Yakkos lips as he leaned back on his hands, watching Max at work, “Theres plenty I cant do ya know, but I understand your confusion~ a fine toon such as myself! Should be good at everything!” there was a dramatic sigh mixed into his words, making Max roll his eyes though there was nothing but love written on his face. 

“Mm yes I am completely shocked” Tone dripping with sarcasm “But seriously, what else is there you cant do?” Because Max had honestly had yet to see Yakko fail at something that wasn’t drinking, drinking was the only fail he had witnessed. 

“Well for one....I cant skate. Anything to do with balance will have me face down in the floor. I cant even walk on a slippy sidewalk” He admitted, noticing how Max’s hands stopped what they were doing and looked to yakko in with a bemused expression, something that came so naturally to Max, was something that Yakko struggled with, It was hard for Max to imagine anyone having a hard time with these activities. 

“Really? You sure youre not saying this to baffle me with your skill once were out on the ice~?” he asked leaning forward as though trying to coax the truth out of the Warner, who almost instantly gestured to the rink, 

“Have you seen Dot? I assure you I'm just as bad.” and as if on cue there was a loud yelp and then thud heard from the rink, from non-other than Dot Warner who couldn’t even stand up straight yet, causing Max to flinch at the sound of skin hitting ice. Though he couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of Yakko attempting ice skating. 

“Well it’s a good thing you have me here then, with a pro on your side you will be skating in no-time" Max swore, now removing Yakkos foot from his lap and instead taking his hands to help pull him up to standing. The comedy toon couldn’t help but wobble like a newborn giraffe, even without the ice this was already proving to be a disaster. 

His grip tightened on Max’s hands, hoping that by holding tighter it would at least stable his legs a little bit. “oh, and where is this so-called pro?” he teased promptly earning him a nudge that nearly knocked him off balance, “don't taunt the one that's keeping you standing.” was the goof's response, and though he felt a little bad for Yakko he could not deny that having the toon depending and leaning on him, filled him with a rather selfish warmth. 

“come on dude, just one step at a time, think about the time you rode the unicycle to class, that was balance” he explained helping Yakko make his way to the opening of the rink, first max stepped onto the ice, swiftly and with a painful about of ease, he turned offering his hands to Yakko, laughing at the glare he received, “What have I done now?” he asked, unaware by how much his talent for the ice turned Yakkos gears. 

“Nothing, I just don’t like being bad at things” He admitted reaching out and taking Max’s hands, he slid onto the ice with hesitant, yelping as. One leg instantly flew out more than the other, bringing himself to nearly split, if not for Max he might have, but thanks to Max’s talents, he slid forward an arm wrapping around Yakkos waist, and with speed pulling him to stand straight without haste. 

As they were now, they were once again flush together, but this time in a way that made the butterflies in their stomachs flutter, Yakkos hands gripping onto Max’s sleeves tightly, as in this moment of time they were his lifeline, They were once again lost in their own little world of staring, before dizzy skated past, in an oddly graceful manner for the psychotic toon, giving a whistle, causing both of them to jolt, Yakko going to move back, but his feet not allowing him to as they went into a frenzied dance under him, Max jumped into action, moving so that they were no-longer so intimate, and instead held Yakko by the shoulders, now to the side of the toon, After a moment he was steadied. 

“Relax man, here look- I got you see? I swear I won't let you fall” he promised, earning a shaky chuckle from the shorter toon “you cannot guarantee that!” only to quite him with a simple phrase “I can't. But I can promise to catch you.” it succeeded in stilling the toon for a moment, causing his to go red in the face, though he would blame it on the cold room, Yakko for once was at a loss for words. So instead, he did was he was best at in hopes of filling the silence, spewing a random fact- “you know the moon has moonquakes-” causing Max’s expression to scrunch in momentary confusion before amusement overtook it. 

“I didn’t, but now that’s all I'm going to be thinking about, thanks” he snorted, “So are you ready to focus on learning or do you have any more fun facts for me?” he asked, though he noticed for this moment, Yakko had been still on his legs, Not slipping or sliding, giving Max an idea, perhaps all that Yakko needed was a distraction, to not think so much. So with that in mind he decided to convince yakko to do what he was best at. Yak. 

“Actually- do tell me more your facts, in curious” he asked, eyes darting down to Yakkos feet for back up, still keeping a hold on him as he slowly skated forward, for a moment Yakkos breath seemed to hold went he was jostled forward on the skates, slipping slightly, but managing to at least wobble less. 

“you are?” he asked, not believing Max for a second, but concluded if Max wanted him to talk then he would talk, finally someone who recognized the importance of meaningless knowledge. 

“Of course, you are! Well then in that case~ California has a bigger population then all of Canada” It sounded fake, but it was true, at least that is what Yakko had once read. “I find it rather ridiculous but hey! How hard is it to beat a population in a country that doesn’t exist~” it was a playful jab at Arthur who just happened to be skating by, the toon gave an eyeroll, 

“I heard that Yakko” to which Yakko responded “did you hear something?” earning him a stern look from Max before Yakko laughed, holding up his hands in surrender, “alright, alright fine Canada exists and Hi Arthur~” It earned him a grumble from Arthur and a sigh from Max, However the Goof took this moment to loosen his hold on the Warner's elbows, hoping he would not notice. Luckily he didn’t. 

Still happily yapping about this and that and random facts, Max barely heard what Yakko was on about, as he was too distracted with the excited way Yakkos hands explained the stories, and the smile on his face as he talked happily, completely observed in his own world to the point that he hardly noticed that his feet were moving on their own, following the movements of Max, even if he did not notice. It was only that Max noticed or the accomplishment would go unawarded. 

“yakko” he uttered softly, though it fell to deaf ears, so with a small laugh he said it a bit louder “Yakko,” getting the toons attention, an ear perked in curiosity, “look down” Max encouraged, watching as Yakko glanced down to his moving feet, almost slipping from surprise, if it was not for his hands catching Max’s own, a laugh bursting from him. 

“I'm skating!” he exclaimed, though now a little wobblily, but luckily not as much as before, eyes shining in wonder as he stared down at the ice before snapping his head up to his teacher “IM SKATING! AND NOT FALLING!” he would exclaim. Clutching onto his partners hands with determination, Max to give an enthusiastic nod “YOU ARE!” and in response Yakko cackled “I AM!” before jumping forward crashing into Max with a hug effectively throwing them both off balance. 

Yakko had never been one to think his actions fully through once excitement kicked in, and he only realized his mistake when they met the ice, shutting his eyes tight, he opened them to find himself on top of Max, panicking when he saw a flash of pain on his friends face and a wince past his lips, Yakko began to freak out, and end up his hand, “Max! Dude! Are you alight!? How many fingers am I holding up!?” he asked waving 3 fingers directly in Max’s face. 

However Max’s gaze was unfocused for a moment, and when his eyes finally did focus, they were cross eyes before he suddenly laughed letting out a might ‘hyuck’ before covering his mouth with both hands, sniggering into them as Yakko fretting over him still waving his fingers in Max’s face, only stopped when the goof reached out and caught his hand, leaning up slightly to the point their noses booped, “see. I caught you.” was all he had to say, a goofy smile on his face. The line caught Yakko off guard enough to make him stare unblinking for a moment, before a small “pfh-” past his lips, not believing how much of a dork this toon was 

“I guess you did” he sniggered, crawling backwards “but seriously are you ok?” he asked, still not getting up, mostly because he didn’t know how to. 

Max sat up without much hassle, “A bit winded but I had worse falls from my skateboard” he admitted with a hum, giving his head a small knock “Got a good strong head” he swore, being the first to get up, but slowly to show Yakko how to do it, Yakko though skeptical did as he shown, wobbling slightly with his knees knocking together. 

“Well strong head or not, how bout we get outta here” he asked thumbing behind him, “use those coupons we got, better to make sure you don’t have a concussion” he suggested, latching onto the wall beside him, they weren't on the ice long but Max decided if it was to give Yakko peace of mind, he might as well go on with what the toon wanted. He was sure he was fine, but knew Yakko would probably fake injury just to get him off the rink if it came to it. 

“Sure, besides I wanted to try the crepes” he hummed, offering his arm to Yakko, but now the shorter toon was stubborn and refused the offered arm, deciding that he would try and make it to the exit himself, scooting along the wall, or basically dragging himself along it, would be a more accurate term.  
Max stared for awhile but when it seemed that Yakko was determined to not use his help, The good gave a shrug and pushed off smoothly, landing beside the exit in record time, a smug smile on his face, as he leaned over the borders, watching as the toon he brought glared at him sharply, knees knocking together as he attempted to stay up, only one thing being muttered under his breath that Max could hear, “Show off” 

It made Max triumph in his plan to impress his one and only crush today, but when he got a little shove from Yakko who had finally made it onto dry ground, he couldn’t help it as a small bit of a chuckle slipped out of him. 

The two toons made their way back to the benches, As skates were not allowed on anything but the ice, they would have to carry them around till their session ended in two hours, or at least until they decided to return to the ice, once they were seated Max couldn’t help himself and begun to tease, “Need help taking them off too?~” earning himself a small knock of knees, as Yakko pulled the laces with ease, “No thank you buckaroo, this is the one thing I CAN do” the Warner proudly proclaimed, slipping the knife shoes off carefully, and instantly standing, releived that not only could his feet breath again, but he was blessed with balance once more.  
Max was quick to follow, tying the laces of the shoes so he could carry them over his shoulder instead, they made their way towards the small little shack of hot coco and crepes, no one seemed to be in line, so they could take their time looking at the menu, both settled on a crepe, not wanting to drink something hot right now, for Max it was a chocolate and banana crepe and for Yakko it was a mixture of absolutely everything, Max had no idea how the other could find such a monstrosity appealing but he was not going to fight the other on this. 

With their crepes in hand the toons looked for a seat, finding one that was close enough to the rink that they witness their friends in action, Yakko instantly finding Dot in the crowd, to find that his sister was blatantly flirting with Roxanne that was attempting to help the other failer skater to stand up from where she had fallen on the ice. His eyes lingered on the sight for a moment before he suddenly asked, 

“Why did you and Roxanne break up?” 

It was a simple question, but one that quite understandably caused Max to choke on the delicacy that was in his hands, coughing slightly he tried to cover it up by talking, “w-why I broke up with Roxxie?” he asked earning a nod from Yakko, who right now was leaning on his hand, now facing him. 

“She seems like a good girl, and you both get along, plus she’s stunning soooo what reason was there?” Yakko pestered. Now this was a scene Max did not see playing out, his present crush asking about his now ex-girlfriend. It was an odd scenario that caused the taller to think for a moment and scratch his chin, the breakup was nearly 3 years ago now so it took awhile to remember. 

“well, Roxxie is amazing, she’s smart, pretty, caring, alott of amazing things actually, we dated for 2 years before we both started college, but when she moved across the state and then I moved across state, we just- lost that spark I guess? Our relationship was fun, but it felt more like I was hanging out with a friend instead of a girlfriend you get me? We both though we would eventually feel a click but we never did” he shrugged “Roxxie was the one who brought up the idea of a break which eventually led to a breakup, we stopped talking, she moved on, I moved on, we started talking again when I started taking Mona, she was a girl I met year, didn’t last long though, we just found out then that we clicked better as friends and well it's been that way ever since.” Max was trying to explain this is the easiest way possible, not wanting to bore Yakko with the details, besides it felt-…. wrong. To talk about his exes to someone he was trying to confess to. It felt like he was bragging, even though he knew he wasn’t as Yakko was the one who asked, but still. He didn’t want Yakko to think he wasn’t relationship material.  
Yakko on the other hand was drinking in this new information, his attention turned back towards Roxanne, he had been hesitant about her at first, After he learned Roxanne was Max’s ex, he couldn’t help but worry that Max was looking for someone like Roxanne, someone as perfect as her, someone Yakko was not, and could not be, He hadn't realized that the pit in his stomach was slowly closing up the more Max explained, It was only a brief explanation, but it had make Yakko realize, that Max and Roxanne were only friends, that he had nothing to worry about, Roxanne was a nice girl, but she didn’t have Max’s attention like she used to, both had moved on, Yakko knew it was irrational to dislike someone simply because they previously dated your crush, and thanks to this little talk he found himself more open to the idea of getting to know her, after all she did seem like a fun gal. 

Before he knew it a laugh at slipped from his lips, the crepe hiding him from view, Max perked up at the sound his brows furrowing, “What? Did I say something?” he asked only to be cut off by Yakko sniggering even more. 

“No! No- I'm not laughing at you- it's just, I was thinking of something stupid, something really stupid. “he admitted, peeking out from behind the crepe, his smile relaxed and face less tense. “I was just curious. Roxanne seems nice, I should to talk to her, that is if Dot doesn’t hog her all evening” he jived, watching as Max relaxed into his seat. 

Honestly the Goof had been worried earlier, he saw how Yakko was when he first met Roxxie, he thought that Yakko seemed to dislike her, but on closer inspection and the way he was talking now, it seemed like all of that was Max’s imagination talking, Yakko was just caution it seemed, It made the goof happy to know that two of his good friends would get too know each other soon, He looked back to the rink in time to witness now both Babs and Roxanne attempting to help Dot up only for it to end in disaster. 

“Pfh, Seem’s like your sister has a new target, hate to see how she reacts to learning Roxxie is taken “ he mused before looking back to Yakko, “So, does bad balance run in the Warner family? Seems like you and Dot share a trait” Max’s grin was wolfish now, a playful tactic on his part, as he happily chewed on his Crepe, enjoying his and Yakko’s time away from the crowd, if anything this almost felt like a date, if it wasn’t for the constant reminder in the back of his mind, that He and Yakko were always 5 cm apart, and it would stay that way till the remainder of the evening, no matter how much he wanted to reach out and hold his hand.  
Watching as the hybrid toon huffed in an unamused manner, Max was distracted by a slab of cream that decorated the Warners nose, and the corner of his mouth. 

“You would be surprised, looks like we were made for slapstick comedy, cause anything to do with an even slightly slippy surface will have us wiped out. “ he chatted completely unaware of the dollop of cream that bothered Max so much. Hands waving as he took bites of his monster creation that he called a crepe. Though Max was sure the conversation was riveting he was much to focused on the cream, waiting for Yakko to wipe it off, Completely tuned out of the conversation, The taller toon lifted himself from his seat and leaned over the table, thounge peeking out of his lips in concentration, as a gloved hand came close, putting a stop to Yakkos words, before brushing away the cream, with the cream now gone, Max could sigh in relief, but that relief didn’t last for long as he came to realize what he had just done, thanks to Yakkos cheeks darkening to an adorably red shade. 

Max’s own matching the shade at a speedy pace, looking rather endearing to the chatty toon who for now was sitting there silently in both confusion and awestruck. 

“Ah- cream-” stumbled out of the goof’s lips, “there was cream on your nose and you werent wiping it off so I-” he held his thounge, quickly sitting back in his chair, averting his eyes, “s-sorry.” his hands were now in his lap, clenched as he fought every urge in his body, to leap forward and wipe more cream off his face if it were to get the same adorable reaction again. 

Yakko stared for a long moment before his cleared his throat, “T-thank duDe-” voice cracking ever so slightly as his hand went to his face “t-theres probualy more right? ImHeadingToTheBathroom!” he claimed, quickly shoving the rest of his treat into his mouth in a very ungraceful fashion, chewing harshly and swallowing hepushed himself up from the table, “see you in a bit!” he called, quickly jogging out of the area, only to be told by a worker that the bathrooms were in the opposite way, making the turn run back the other way with a quick call of thanks. 

The bathrooms were in a separate hall, alltogether, being part of a different building that the rink was attached to, luckily Yakko was able to find them without much hastle, and once in the bathroom, was quick to splash cold water over his face, making sure to wipe off any evidance of the creape, staying there for a long moment, his hands eaither side of the sink, he stares down the drain pipe, mind still racing by the moment they just had, and it was only then that the toon dropped down to his hunckers in a crouch position, face hiding in his knees, till he let out a small sound of dis-satisfaction before hissing out 

“Idiot!’ 

He had the perfect chance there to get closer to Max, the perfect chance to say some sort of smooth and flirty remark, but he completely blew it, why was it that when it was with strangers he could so easily be suave and charming, He could flirt without getting flustered, No other toon had this effect on him, Yakko had plenty of toons go on dates with him, had plenty of toons that held his hand without hesitation, heck he even kissed a few, so why, why was it Max that made him panic like this, why was Max that made all logic he previously had go out the window, Yakko could not be zaney when it came to affection with his friend, couldn’t do his usual cartoony greeting of a giant kiss, he couldn’t bring himself to, and frustrated him because he didn’t know why. He wanted to try new things with Max, but...but he was scared to, he was scared that if he did, he might lose a close friend. Yakko had seen many friendships that turned into reltionships, some worked out but in most cases, they lost a good friend, and in the reltionship lost that dynamic of their friendship, Yakko did not want that, he was content with where they were now, even if was not completely satisfed, he was scared. He was scared of losing Max, the only other person that managed to make him feel safe... he did not want to lose that. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	11. UPDATE REWRITTING IN PROGRESS

So a few people might have noticed i deleted chapter 11 and changed the ending of chapter 10, well i noticed this fic was taking on too much of a serious note, and i did not like how dark it was getting, and after doodling some cute fanart, i decied to change the last 2 chapters to get back on track with the orignal storyline, which was just a cute little story of these two dorks trying to get together, Will i regret deleting the previous chapter in the morning? maybe- BUT! im no longer feeling angsty- im feeling some cute story line! so please, enjoy as the story continues as normal, i am sorry for the inconvience.

https://64.media.tumblr.com/c0a70434d417750c6ce570f377de053a/2447604a1887108e-0a/s1280x1920/39d85ca07a4d1d10226accf29c0ff428942aa257.pnj

Damni hopee that meme poted or im gonna look stupid-

Anyway i just felt like i was losing the dynamic i built up between the two of them because of the angst, so i scrapped it 


	12. Chapter 10: every comedy needs a tragedy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> most of this chapter is light hearted fun! but the lil bit of angst i sprinkled in oon accident-
> 
> hopefully this will be the only bit of angst with-in the fic, originally i wasnt planning to add it, but since i foreshadowed it quite alott in previous chapters theres no going back now, but to make it up, something good may or may not be happening in the next chapter 030

Yakko came back from the bathroom feeling much more refreshed, after splashing some cold water on his face and talking to himself for a little but longer, he was feeling just peachy! But there was a new found determined feeling with-in, He was determined to make Max know that he was interested, while walking he made a mental checklist of what he could and could not do, which was surprisingly hard, for you see, Yakko had no problem being himself with strangers, yakking, jumping into their arms, flirting, it all came naturally, but it was harder to do that when you face exploded in red and mind went blank at the smallest return of the gestures. 

With a hand to his face he let out a quite groan, trying to cook up a plan, Yakko had not realized he was almost back to his seat, only when he heard the all to familiar voice call for him. 

“Yakko! Hey dude!” Looking up, Yakko could not help but notice the excitement painted on Max’s face, though it was not for his return if the group around him told Yakko anything, Max looked ready to burst from his seat, which lead to a rather curious look from Yakko. 

“Miss me that much Max’n’cheese?” Taking his seat once more, Yakko looked to the group surrounding them, seems like everyone had come off the rink for the time being, whatever it was, seemed to cause a buz with-in the group as they all seemed ready to burst with whatever the news was. “or did I miss some form of intervention” he teased further. 

The goof’s head frantically shook, as a laugh slipped out of him, hands quickly coming up to muffle the ‘hyuck’ that soon followed, “My Dad’s getting married!” was his response, voice full of excitement as he couldn’t seem to stay in his seat, standing with the news, “He proposed to Sylvia last night by accident and well-” his rant was interrupted by Yakko asking “How do you propose by accident?” to which Max as quick to say “He was meant to propose next week but accidentally dropped the ring while looking at it and Sylvia found it, typical Dad I guess but- that’s not the point! They are getting married can you believe it?” He asked. 

Yakko had not seen Max this excited since he got new wheels for his skate bored, It made the toon smile at simply witnessing such happiness, though he did not know Sylvia that well, apart from her being the college’s librarian who he playfully flirted with each time he walked in, but who always would shut him down easily, He had known she was dating Goofy, from the times Max would talk about them, or the times when Miss.Marpole’s desk would have a brand new bunch of flowers on them each morning from the one and only Goofy toon. Yakko had never been into the whole wedding thing, and didn’t know the bride and groom enough to be excited for them, but he was excited for Max, and so he couldn’t help but to crack a joke. 

His head hitting the table with a slap, “NO! Miss.Marpole! My one and only true love! Gone! Once again another red head slipped through my fingers~” He sobbed into the table, only peeking up to see an eye roll from Max before the goof flicked his forehead. 

“You never stood a chance man, My Dad just has the skills that you lack” Max now sat on the table and gave Yakkos head a pat, “hopefully this will stop your flirting” Max mused, He was never upset with Yakko and his flirting with his Dad’s girlfriend, As Max knew Yakko was a casual flirt, more often than not it wasn’t serious and mostly was just his way of getting a few laughs, Hell even Goofy found it amusing and on the one occasion he did meet Yakko had deemed him a likeable young toon, but that still didn’t mean Max wanted the flirting to keep up with someone who was going to be his’s new step Mom, Because if he brought Yakko over for dinner one day Max does not think he would be able to put up with it all night. 

A mumble from the back, from none other then the Warner sister cause Max’s attention “I seriously doubt it” 

With a long sigh yakko straightened his posture, head thrown back with dramatic flair, “Mr.Goof was a worthy oppoant, with a heavy heart I give them my blessing.” 

“No one asked for your blessing!” Dot quickly shouted from the group, before she and the girls decided to walk off to get something from the shack. 

Max smiled down to the sitting toon, hand still placed on Yakko’s head, “would it make ya feel better if I invited you to the bachelor party?” The goof asked, his offer sounding rather tempting, Usually Yakko would jump at the idea to go out and party, especially since he had never been to a bachelor party before, well- not to one he was invited to anyway. 

“I don’t think you can just randomly invite toons Maxamillion, not your bachelor party yet I'm afraid, unless you're hiding something from me?” squinting Yakko leaned forward, giving Max the stink eye as he did, enjoying the reaction of the overjoyed toon, who was in too much of a good mood right now to take anything to seriously, waving a hand in a dismissive fashion a small chuckle left his lips. 

“Nah man, if I was engaged to someone pretty sure you would know by now” he nudged Yakko, “I can't hide anything from you even if I wanted to” There was a fondness to his gaze, As Max knew it was true, Yakko was probably the one person he could not keep a secret from, even if he wanted to, one look from that toon would have him spilling his deepest darkest secrets if he asked. 

“And my Dad said I could invite someone to come with me” leaving out how his Dad practically shoved the idea of bringing Yakko right at Max, not even leaving the option of choosing someone else, though the toon in question very much knew even if he had the option to bring someone else, Yakko would still be at the top of his list, Hand doing his nervous habit of rubbing his neck once he noticed Yakko now looking at him in surprise, looking away Max added, “M-my Dad invited PJ so he will be going anyway so I thought- why not bring you? ..I-if you don’t want to go! That’s alright too I just thought-” Max had begun to babble, his words speeding up and merging in one breath, as he struggled to try and find something to say. An excuse as to why he was inviting Yakko instead of anyone else. 

“Max-” Yakko attempted to speak up 

“And Bobby is planning to go to Greece, so I didn’t think of asking him-” 

“Max’n’cheese-” 

“on second thought it-” 

With a roll of his eyes Yakko brought his fingers to his mouth and with a deep breath, blew into them, a toonishly loud whistle escaped, causing everyone in the area to wince and curl in on themselves. Luckily, that also included Max who diverted his attention to Yakko. Finally. 

“I’d love to. Not like you are asking me on a date” he laughed “don't get so stressed man it's just a bachelor party” He hummed, though secretly he was excited about it, being asked anywhere by Max would automatically warrant a yes, especially if it was a date, though sadly it was not. “besides doesn’t it take like a year? To plan a wedding. I have a song about it, if you want to hear it?” he mused only to be quickly shut down with a solid, 

“NO.” from Buster, Dot and Bab’s who had heard enough of Yakkos spontaneous song numbers to last a lifetime. 

He jumped slightly before pointing his thumb back towards them and uttering “yeesh, tough crowd am I right?” 

Max chuckled at that, he didn’t know why he was so nervous about asking Yakko, he was right, it was not a date, just a bachelor party for his dad, a bachelor party that would not be for another 3 months, so they had plenty of time to prepare for it. So he just needed to relax, smiling he he looked towards their group for friends before looking back to Yakko and saying. 

“I don’t know, I think I'd like to hear it” Which resulted in a mix of reactions, a shared look of confusion between PJ and Roxanne, a series of groans from the tiny toons and Dot, and a blinding grin from Yakko who pulled a kazoo out of his coat pocket. 

“I call this one- How to plan a wedding in under a year on a miniscule budget! Or wedding planning for short” He raised the kazoo to his lips only to be stopped momentarily by PJ asking, 

“why is the budget miniscule?” 

“cause in this economy were trying not to drown in debt buddy” and thus the first buzz of the kazoo could be heard about the room. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

An hour and a song number later had everyone returning their skates, and organizing carpools, each toon mixing it up as they had different drop off points and different places to be, Roxanne, plucky and Yakko were to get a lift in Max’s car, as Roxanne’s B and B was on the way to Max’s apartment, Plucky needed to be stopped at the bus stop and Yakko had to return Max’s hoodie, they had also planned to play video games tonight, however just as everyone was ready to leave Yakko felt a small tug on his sleeve and looked down to see Dot who was shuffling foot to foot, looking to her phone nervously. 

Raising his brow Yakko excused them for a moment and stepped to the side with her, “Hey sis what's the matter?” It was unlike Dot to look so nervous or even to be nervous in general and with the way she was looking at her phone, Yakko was worried that something had happened. 

“Could I get a ride with you and Max, I.. I want to make a stop at the toon patrol station” She admitted, slapping her flip phone shut, despite being able to afford smartphones, the siblings simply preferred the old flips, besides, they had a tablet at home if they wanted to go on social media. 

“I saw the report on the college websites, and I know It was you Yakko who broke his nose. “as she said that her gaze drift down to her brothers bandaged hand, as if on instinct he moved it behind him, opening his mouth to deny the claim only for Dot to interrupt “One of the girls saw you, last night on the balcony, she did not say anything to the toon patrol, but- I really think I should file a report on what happened" she admitted. Now scratching at her arm, “It wouldn’t be right if I kept quite. Besides idiots like him deserve the very worst!” She claimed offering a bright smile, and for a moment Yakko felt pride swell with-in him, he had been worried about Dot, and was planning to talk to her about last night, but by the looks of it he didn’t need to, Dot had grown into a fine young toon, and Yakko could not be prouder of her, she had always been tough, he never doubted that, but it still a challenging thing to say you wanted to go into the toon patrol station to file a report. She really had grown up. 

Yakko could not help but give her shoulder a pat, he wanted to give her a hug but knew she would probably mallet him for embarrassing her in public like that, so instead he grinned before diving in a ruffling her hair, earning himself an elbow to the stomach as she flailed her arms so he would not mess up her hair. 

“I'm proud of ya sis, you became quite the toon” he gushed, gaining a sheepish smile from the younger toon who was quite the fan of praise, despite being extremely independent, she couldn’t help but love when her older brothers complimented her, they raised her, so she wanted them to be proud, so hearing Yakko say it, looked very much like a puppy being given a bone. Dots tail wagging happily before she ducked out of the hair ruffling. 

“ya, ya, I know, it’s not a big deal. Now come on were holding up the group” taking his sleeve once more she tugged Yakko back towards Max, Plucky and Roxanne. 

Max perked up at seeing the two siblings return, “hey man is it alright if Dot comes with us? She has a stop to make on the way?” Yakko asked, not wanting to seem pushy about it, but because Max knew about last night, he seemed to catch onto what it was about, He gave a quick nod, “Of course dude, I don’t mind, Buster already went ahead anyway, so let's head out Pluckys bus is soon anyway” he offered a smile which Yakko gratefully returned. 

The group headed out in their huddle, Plucky running ahead as he called shotgun, coming to a skid beside the busted up mini-van Max had received from his Dad last year, It was a good car for a first one, and it did as it was supposed to, got them from point A to B so the goof couldn’t complain, Roxxie and Dot seemed to be getting along great as they were already trading numbers. While Max and Yakko took their time strolling behind, their hands brushing briefly on accident, causing a sharp wave of electricity between the two who pulled their hands away quickly as if burned, holding back their need to reach out and brush hands once more, or in an ideal situation, to hold hands. Their cheeks burning as they looked away. 

The car ride was quick, first plucky was dropped off, and then they continued on their way towards the bed and breakfast Roxanne was staying in, the radio playing between the chatter before a familiar song caught Yakkos attention, quickly he shooshed everyone in the car, 

“SHHSHH! I havent heard this song in years! Everyone quite-” lighting up as he turned it up, the beat now stating the opening, getting a curious side-glance from Max before Max seemed to completely brighten, straightening in his seat, eyes lighting up as he quickly looked between the road and yakko, 

“no way- You listen to powerline too!?” he asked, not knowing where to look, Yakko quickly looking to him with the biggest grin he could muster, 

“well duh! Who doesn’t listen to powerline!? Eyes on the road Maxie Taxi” the toon chimed it, before Roxanne’s head popped between the two seats looking between the both of them, “Powerline was big back in our old state, we didn’t think it would be popular enough to reach Burbank though!” she explained, not missing how Max seemed to tap his finger on the wheel to the beat. 

“awe Man I was the biggest fan of powerline back in high school” the goof groaned, he couldn’t believe it had been so long since he last listened to a powerline song, College just took over his life with all the essays and assignments that there was not much room left to enjoy the old interests he had. 

Roxxie on the other hand raised a brow “Biggest fan? More like a crazy fan, remember when you dressed up as powerline during morning announcements?” She asked, quickly catching Yakko’s attention who snapped his head towards them, jaw dropping, 

“He did what?” before taking a long look at Max, fingers to his chin, “actually- ya know what? I can see it.” Max blushing in emmbaresment at the memory, blindly attempted to swat at Roxanne while keeping his eyes on the road. “ignore her Yakko, she’s delusional” causing a buddle of giggles to leave the red head in question, who instead moved her attention towards Yakko. 

“Ya! He, Pj and Bobby set up a whole show and everything! There was a zip wire that sent Max into the crowd! It was the coolest thing! But then of course Principal Mazur didn’t find it all that entertaining” earning a snort from Max, “Ya if he had thing’s his way I would have been expelled” he admitted with a small grumble, As Yakko stared almost in amazement, he never would of thought Max had it in him to do something like that. 

“Man, now you're making me wish I was in that shambles of an education system” The eldest Warner groaned slouching down into his seat arms folded, Dots hand reaching between the seats to give Yakko a small sympathetic pat. His eyes moving back to Max with a slanted smirk. 

“Hey do you still have the costume?” he asked, nudging towards an idea Max was not too fond of. “Don't even look at me I don-” “HE DOES!” Roxanne interrupted, getting a high five from Yakko and a look of betrayal from Max, 

“fine! I have it! But I am not wearing it- never again!” he shot a glare towards everyone, “awe why not Maxxie? Yakko would like it” Dot edged on, well aware of the feelings both had for each other, her comment succeeding in making Max a stuttering fool, as he quickly gave Yakko a look, as though pleading for him to disagree with her, but instead he gave a shrug, “I am not going to deny it. I mean come on” he let out a wolf whistle “Latex suit? Its hot! But also, I want to see how you would even move in it.” Yakko mused, not even hiding his interest in the suit, Luckily, they came to a stop light, so Max was free to place his head against the wheel with a grumble, completely red faced. 

“Can everyone just shut up about the suit?” the whined “It was years ago! If you guys want to see it so bad I'm sure there are photos somewhere of it” Max huffed, now driving forward, Roxannes stop was just around the corner, so hopefully the topic would drop once the instigator was out of the vehicle, Roxanne looked to Dot and sat back as the girls fell into their own hushed conversation, before the car came to a stop and Roxanne climbed out, wishing everyone well and shutting the door, with a sigh of relief upon the topic dropping, Max continued on his way in silence, that was till Dot spoke up after a Bing from her phone, 

“Roxxie said she can send me the photos.” 

Causing once again another face plant into the steering wheel, a loud honk dragging out from the vehicle. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

The next stop on their route was the toon patrol station, basically it was the part of the police force that specialized in incidents with toons, as for the most part toon crime was more outlandish and more hard to spot than your average human crime, so they required their own sector. 

The car came to a slow stop, and silence followed, Yakko unclipping his seat belt to turn and face his sister, who for the most part was hesitating to pull the door handle, 

“...Do you want me to go in with you?’ He asked, not at all bothered if that is what she wanted, Dot was still his baby sister after all, so he would always give her whatever support she needed, however she shook her head, 

“ah-... No, this is- something I need to do myself. “she had decided, though it was a tough decision, not to ask Yakko to walk in with her, old habbits died hard, but Dot was a college student now and as one she needed to learn to do these things on her own, no matter how scary doing something new was, she was a strong and independent toon. “just- be here when I come out?” she asked, eyes wandering back to meet who brothers, the brother in question offering her a warm smile and nod, “of course sis, wouldn’t dream of leavin’ ya here. No matter how much you bug me with your sass. I will be here, I promise.” he teased, earning a small little “heh” in return, Dot reached for the door once more before stopping, holding her breath a little and looking back to Yakko as though searching for him to say something, Max watched the interaction from his mirror before looking away, He felt like he was intruding on a personal moment between the two. 

“They will believe you. Trust me. “ Yakko promised, it seemed to be the thing Dot was looking for as she gave a small nod and finally slipped out of the car, walking towards the tall building, before stopping to look back at Yakko briefly, Yakko watching from the window of the car with a trained eye, not once did he let Dot out of his sight till she was safely in the building, even then he stared for a moment longer, before sighing and sitting back in his seat, fiddling with the sleeve of his coat. 

Silence filled the car before Max gave a nervous chuckle tapping the wheel of the car, “So eh- eventful day right? Not even over yet and we already got some big news and Dot seems to of gotten over a fear” he mused, seeing as how Dot had reacted about going to the police it was safe to assume it had been a fear of hers, Max looked to Yakko in time to witness the other toon smile, though it was a melancholy smile. 

“Heh ya, She grew up so fast, Mom and Pop would be proud of her” he hummed catching Max off guard, the goof straightening in his seat as his brows furrowed, Mom and Pop? The Warners had parents? This was something Max was not aware of, it was not strange for toons to be created without them, so he just assumed the Warners had none to begin with. 

“Mom and Pop..you had parents?” he asked softly, since the siblings had never brought them up before now, he guessed they were no longer around. Yakko perked up at that, he hadn’t meant to mention them, but it had simply slipped out, he did not want to put a downer on the lovely evening so tried to move away from the topic, hand cupping his neck as he chuckled. 

“I don’t want to put a downer on your day Maxamillion, it’s not a pretty story” he warned, because in all honesty it was not. “you probably don’t want to know-” 

“but I do-” Max swooped in, leaning forward from instinct, his hand accidentally landing over Yakkos as the toon had it placed on his seat, with wide eyes Yakko looked down to their hands but made no move to move his own. The goof cleared his throat, face burning with color at his mistake, but he also- made no move to remove his hand, instead he looked down on them and focus “I mean- if you're willing to tell me I would like to know...we are friends Yakko, and I- want to learn more about you. So if you are ok with telling me I will happily listen” He had admitted, voice soft but firm in each word, he did not push Yakko to talk, but it was clear by the look he wore on his face that he was being honest...he really did want to know. 

Yakko stared for a moment almost baffled, It had been- a long time since he last told this story, as it had been a long time since anyone wanted to listen. Apart from Dr.Scratchensniff, Yakko was sure there was not a single toon in Burbank who believed what the Warners would say, Though Yakko was hesitant to tell the tale of their parents, he felt that he could trust Max, with this information, trust him not to pitty them and trust him not to shut down their tale as a lie, or to sweep it under the rug as so many other toons do. So with a breath Yakko began to open up. 

“promise not to pitty us too much after this?” He asked with a small smile, feeling his hand being squeezed gently by the other toon before him. 

“I promise.” 

That is all it took for Yakko to talk. Slipping back to his memories of that time, trying to tell the story the same way he had told it to others, but this time mentioning a bit more about who their parents were, and not just how they came to their sudden demise. 

“Our-...Parents, Were not drawn from the same ink as us.. We were not drawn to be their kids, we were only drawn to be a orphaned group of siblings, we were not made to have parents, and parents. Were never to be drawn for us. As you know when toons are drawn, for the first 2 years while their designs are in the concept stage they either take on the form of a baby or a kid, our personalities not yet made, it is the closest a toon can get to being a child” he hummed 

“Well, during that time, our creators still had not figured out what they wanted to do with us. We had no purpose, and thus were only seen as nuisance's around the set, even as nothing more than an 5-year-old running around with a toddler and an infant we still managed to find some way to cause chaos” A laugh left Yakko at the memory of it all. “We were content with the way things were... but we still wanted- something more, we wanted someone to be on our side. The adults around seemed to hate toons, we couldn’t understand it back then and honestly, I still don’t understand it now, That chance did not come till our designs were finalized, however. I was around 8 at the time, Wakko was 6 and Dot was 4, that is when we met Ditzy and Bouncer, two toons drawn in the same style as us, the water hose style, It was strange to say the least, we had never seen toons in our style before! So you can imagine our surprise when there's not only one but two!? It was mind blowing!” Yakko explained, He could still remember the day like it was yesterday, Though the faces for the most part were now blurred, he could remember their voices, He could remember their laughs, and how Ditzy wore an orange dress and was a cat, while Bouncer wore a green scarf with glasses and was a dog toon, It was a strange combination for a couple, but seemed to fit the warner siblings perfectly. 

“We were skeptical of them at first, They weren't acting toons, but they drove in from toontown each day to assist other toons on set, Bouncer taught toons how to control their hammer space and Ditzy often helped toons figure out stunts, I didn’t trust them as they seemed overly friendly with us, We were not used to adults actually enjoying our company, tell even most toons got tired of us after awhile, but with time we I came to like them, and once I did, Dot and Wakko did too, I noticed how Wakko could not control his hammer space or gag bag so after swallowing my pride I asked Bouncer to help us. Being the new toons that we were you can guess how out of control our abilities were?” He asked looking to Max who seemed to have his full attention on yakko. 

“Well- to be honest I wouldn’t, Toon born without many gags, but I have heard my Dad and uncle complain about it alott, Gag reflex right?” Max asked, unknowingly triggering Yakko to blow a loud kiss and to announce “G’night everybody!” Max rolled his eyes and Yakko sniggered. 

“Couldn’t help myself, but ya, Gag reflex, where new toons tend to do gags when surprised or scared. Anyway Bouncer began to help us, and because of that Ditzy also spent more time with us, we learned that Ditzy and Bouncer always wanted a kid but they didn’t have enough money to hire an animator to draw them one and their original creator had died back in 1934. We did not understand much about that stuff back then because again we were only kids, But that’s when Ditzy had asked us if we were interested in being adopted. We were surprised by this because we didn’t know what it meant, but after some debating we realized it meant we got a mom and dad, Dot and Wakko were thrilled by it but I- ..I was still stubborn. Having raised my sibs for so long I was worried my place would be taken.” 

“But weather I liked it or not I decided to go for it, it made my siblings happy so why not give it a shot ya know? And you know, it was probably the best decision I ever made, Ditzy and Bouncer were two of the kindest toons you could ever met, taught us absolutely everything we know. Not only that they decided to move to the Warners lott with us, but they also didn’t want to rip us away from the place we claimed to be home so they moved here for us, told us that when we were old enough and willing, we could all move to toon town together in the future, that there wasn’t a rush. Those 2 years we had with them were complete bliss, It was only a short amount of time in the long run but- we couldn’t help but think, Is this a family? Is this what we were missing out on? It was amazing, to think that we had these two toons, who wanted to understand us. Who worked hard to help us, who no matter how many times I pushed them away they kept coming back, kept- wanting me?” Yakkos voice cracked and Max didn’t know what to do, so he did the only thing he could, and rubbed soft circles into Yakkos Knuckle, encouraging him to continue. 

“but then- 1947 happened" he admitted quietly, causing Max to paused, 1947 was a year every toon knew, because it was the historic event of. 

“The dip experiments. “ once those words left Yakko’s lips, Max knew this was not going to be good, his stomach filled with dread as he suddenly remembered the movie they had watched a few nights ago. 

“Our Parents were going out of town, A quick run to grab something in toon town, they had said, you see they had to run between the studio and toon town alott, as they still had some business in toon town, it’s where they bought their equipment and met most of their clients, but also at the time in toontown, the weasel brothers were still on the top of the food chain, ya had to pay a protection fee or well- ya got dipped. Simply put.” Yakkos tone was growing darker which each passing moment. 

“We had asked Ditzy and Bouncer if we could go with them that day, we had wanted to see the town and since we were so eager they agreed, so long as we stayed on our best behavior. . . I never-… I never called Ditzy Mom..or called Bouncer Pop’s, I could never bring myself to do it, Wakko and Dot had no problem saying it but I was still a bit emmbarest by it. I regret not calling them that now..” Yakko looked up to the roof of the car for a moment. 

“Surprisingly our first trip to toontown would also be our last. We drove by car, made a few pit stops, got some candy, Mom and Pop’s got their equipment and loaded it into the car, it was time to go, That- was till the toon patrol showed up, nothin’ like the toon patrol today- no, this patrol was corrupt under Judge doom. I remember- Bouncer looking frustrated- and Ditzy looked concerned, they whispered among themselves for awhile before looking back to us- Pop's asked us to keep our heads down, and not to get out of the car, At the time I found it rather scary but I couldn’t show it, not when Mom asked me to keep my siblings calm, and promised that it would all be fine.. I think- that was the first time I called them mom and pop actually..they were going to get out of the car, when I grabbed each of their hands- I- ..I asked them to promise to come back, Or I would mallet them myself” Yakko laughed, despite needing to wipe his eye, In that moment he remembered their expressions, how surprised they seemed by it, and the bubbles of laughed that had left the two toons, how they looked to each other and then back to him with warm smiles on their faces, though it seemed like their was sadness in their eyes, He remembered the kiss to the forehead from his mother, and the hair ruffle his father had given him, as they gave him a nod, reaching below their seats and handing him a blanket. 

With some instruction Yakko, concealed both his siblings who had this time, were both sleeping soundly, passed out form a sugar rush. 

“The- next time I looked it was because I heard a commotion, I peaked out and saw them, pulling Ditzy and Bouncer away- Pulling MY Mom and Dad away- She saw me you know? My Mom saw me. And all I could do was stare- I was so scared but I- ..I didn’t know what to do- at first I thought they would come back- but when they didn’t I began to panic- I left the car and tried to find them- Wakko and Dot were still sleeping- I wandered around- not going to far from the car, I just wanted to find them- and then that’s when I- bumped in Bugs... I recognized him from the studio, and from the park, I used to play with Buster there before we became show toons..” He explained. “I thought Bug’s could help me- help me find them, I didn’t know what the toon patrol was back then.. So he tried to calm me down and ask me for what the van looked like that took them, I explained and then- ...then Bug’s asked me where my siblings were, I told him and I took him to the car, they were both still asleep. I never seen Bug’s bunny look so-...so defeated till that moment. . most of the toon patrol at the time were corrupt but there was still a few that were good. Bugs asked me to get in the car and so I did, He drove us to a building, the station, by now it was night. He asked me to stay in the car and so I did, he went in. When he came back out again he was holding a bag- In it was- Pop’s scarf and his glasses, Mom’s hair pin that was a flower. He sat me down and quietly explained to me what happened, I- don’t remember much because honestly it was all such a blur” Yakko was shaking by now. 

“but- they were dipped. I didn’t understand that back then, I couldn’t understand it- I was still just a kid Max.. The only thing I can remember is Wakko waking up- Waking up and tugging my sleeve- asking me where Mom and Pop was- I couldn’t give him an answer- I couldn’t because I didn’t know either- I was still in shock- and then Dot woke up- they were both so sleepy- so unaware of everything that I- ..I just cried. I could only cry. For the next few weeks, I was taken into the station, Bugs had made a report and I was to help with the investigation, but- when you point out a member of staff to be the one who took your parents away, suddenly they don’t want to hear from a kid anymore. They didn’t believe me. “shaking his head, “I never told Wakko and Dot the full story- not that our parents were dipped- not till they were older- It was hard to keep it a secret after that movie came out” He admitted, referring to who framed Rodger Rabbit, the movie he and Max watched only a night before. 

“Wakko took it the hardest. But Dot- she lost all trust she ever had in the toon patrol, not that there was much trust to begin with anyways- she never liked the system, but after learning about everything? Well. She refuses to go to the patrol for help with anything. Despite the corruption being cleared out in the 60’s. She still cannot bring herself to accept any of their help which is why this is a pretty big step for her. “ He admitted, smiling despite how he was feeling, which was pretty shit. “I think she’s just doin’ it to make sure I don’t get in trouble..” He was staring down at his injured hand now. 

Max stared for a moment not knowing what to do, but the moment he saw Yakkos shoulders begin to shake, he had unbuckled his belt and with swiftness had moved forward, Capturing the toon in his arms, Yakko froze up, eyes widening at the sudden contact, his body going ridged, before he felt his wall’s crumbling down, Max was taller than he was, which came with also being a bit broader, Usually this was something Yakko hated about the other, his feelings of envy would usually surface right about now, but instead- instead he felt safe. He felt small like this. Even if it was a rather uncomfortable position, because again they were in the front seat of a car. He felt protected. It was silly for him to feel this way, but after a lifetime of being the safe place for others, it was nice to be in that safe place for once, his throat burning from the held back tears, holding his breath, he did his best to stay calm, but once Max’s hand moved and he felt it press against his back carefully, but yet firmly, A choked sob left the comedy toon, His hands slowly moving up and gripping the fabric of Max’s shirt, head pressing strongly against the others chest. 

“I- ..I guess every good comedy needs a tragedy eh?” He asked through teary eyes, and blubbered speech, trying to force the smile to stay on his lips but being unable to. 

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Max asked softly “And after we watched that last night-” his own words falling short, as all he could do was hug Yakko a bit closer, He couldn’t believe they watched a movie, all about the way Yakkos parents died last night, and Yakko had not even tried to persuaded him to watch something else. “I'm so sorry Yak- “ 

“N-no its fine I like that movie-” he sniffed “Rodger is a fun toon and besides, it’s nice to see them catch those crooks” he giggled though it sounded watery, “Feel’s like I'm watching justice.” he hummed “besides Jessica Rabbit is still a babe” It was just so long since Yakko last talked to someone who wanted to listen. Someone who didn’t immediately try and tell him that he was wrong, that his parents died some other way, The memory of toons trying to tell him that one of the weasel brothers was not responsible for his parents missing, despite him seeing very clearly who took them still ringing in his head, Scratchy had once told him that, that was probably why yakko tended to second guess himself, but Yakko refused to believe it. 

Max had to hold back his chuckle, even after reliving such a time in his life, it appeared that Yakko still had room to crack jokes. Though one thought stayed in Max’s mind, That Yakko Warner was the strongest toon he knows. 

The difference between he and Yakko was clear now. Max had always known Yakko was more mature, you could tell by the way the toon entered a room, but after that talk it was obvious why he was that way, It was not a choice of Yakkos be that way, it was not a personality trait he was given by his creator, no... Instead, it was the outcome of a child needing to grow up fast. No matter if that child was toon or human. They all had feelings and life with-in them and forcing them to miss out on a childhood. Was one of the greatest tragedies. 

Max was taken out of his thoughts by some movement, Yakko had wiggled a little, seeming to get more comfortable, “Could- I stay here for a little while? Just till Dot gets back, it’s comfortable here” he asked, voice seeming so small, as though he feared Max would push him away, it made the goof’s chest ache, before he dropped his chin onto Yakko head, taking a deep breath of whatever shampoo the other had, noting how it smelled like apples and mint, with a dash of ink. Holding the toon more securely. 

“Take as long as you need...I'm not going anywhere.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

When Dot arrived back in the car she instantly knew something was up, Max and Yakko were no longer huddled together, As Dot had been in filing the report for almost a half hour, at around the 20 minute mark Yakko had pulled back, Claiming he was fine, and not wanting to push Max allowed him to pull away, The two eventually deciding to turn on the radio, which resulting in a karaoke contest on who would sing the most powerline songs without missing a single word, Though on whether it was brave or stupid to challenge Mr. Countries of the world, to a singing competition on memory was any bodies guess. 

But that is not what made Dot suspicious, one look to her brother alone was enough for Dot to realize Yakko had been crying, Even though she had not seen him cry in years, the one time she did still played in her mind, However he seemed to be in a good mood for now, and the two seemed to be making googoo eyes at each other, so whatever it was Dot was sure to fight it out of her brother later, but for now she would let him be. If he was happy then she could hold back her concern and questions for a few more hours. 

The car-ride was faster this time around, Dot in a good mood after filing the report as it went smoother then she thought it would, Yakko feeling relieved at getting something out of his system, and Max feeling weirdly relaxed. He felt closer to Yakko now, and it was strange, he couldn’t help but steal a glance to the smiling toon beside him every few minutes, till they eventually arrived at the warner household, pulling up to the driveway Max parked. 

“I can't believe out of the 3 of you not a single one has a license yet.” He admitted, watching Yakko run up to the door of the house to unlock it leaving the his sister and friend in the driveway, Shutting the door with flair Dot turned to look at Max, ready to spill some facts. 

“And I can't believe out of these 3 months you haven't asked my brother out, and yet, here we are” she gave a shrug and spun of her heels, leaving Max standing in place mouth open, not knowing how respond to such a blatant expression of bluntness. The smallest Warner spun once again, arms behind her back as she face Max with a sugar sweet smile, “close your mouth unless you wanna catch flys~” 

Instantly his mouth shut and mummered “touché..” before perking up once again when she started walking “Wait Dot! What did you mean by that-!-” her walk sped up and Max jogged hoping to catch her so he could find out why she would say that was his crush obvious or perhaps, had yakko been talking about him? The idea of that alone made his heart race with anticipation but before he could get his answers, Dot had ducked under her brothers arm and swiftly made her way inside. Pushing Yakko back in the process and watching how he stumbled back into Max’s chest, 

“Oppsie~” she chimed, a shit eating grin on her face, but her hand managing to cover it up as she happily skipped off to the kitchen. 

Bumping back into Max, Yakko looked back with a small ‘oof’ “What did she say?” he asked, seeing as he was too far away to hear the conversation eariler, Max looked down, cheeks heating up simply form being so close to Yakko, the only thought in his mind right now being that of asking him out thanks to Dot. 

“Its nothing! Ya- just wanted to ask her about the powerline photos- was just going to ask her to delete them-” he stumbled out as an excuse, though honestly with the look Yakko just gave him he would rather tell the truth, but it was too late now as Yakko had rushed into the building, 

“Thanks for the reminder Maxxie! ~” leaving Max coughing and attempting to fan away the cloud of smoke from Yakkos wind up run. 

“Shit- NO! DUDE GET BACK HERE!!”


	13. Chapter 11: the chapter before a confession.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> aka the chapter where Yakko is his own problem and then Max does not help himself at all.   
> And i was not really feeling this chapter so im sorry if it seems boring, im just really excited about getting to the next chapter, so this was mostly just time filler
> 
> im sorry if the characters are ooc in this chapter, It's rather rush as right now im focused on making a Varian and the 7 kingdoms animatic, The chapters will properly get better once that is finished.

Chapter 11 

An hour had flown by before the two found their stomachs grumbling for some proper food, The excitement of the day finally catching up on them, that’s when Yakko suggested heading to the kitchen, Knocking on Dots door on his way to let her know that he will take dinner duty tonight, much to the sisters delight who was rather engrossed in the weird vampire movie she was watching, Yakko internally groaning “Dot- Sis, again? You always complain about it why do you keep watching it?” He asked leaning against the door frame arms folded. 

Max peaking over his shoulder curiously only to cringe and retreat back, God damn Twilight, he had not seen that movie since 2012 and he had hoped to keep it that way, He did not even know people still watched it. 

Dot only huffed pausing the film with her remote and chucking a pillow at Yakko, which the toon caught with ease, “It’s like a trash tv to me, a train wreak that you cant stop watching. “She explained a finger raised in the air at her little speech, “Only this train wreak comes with the hunk that is Jacob~” almost instantly their hearts in her eyes as she stared at the tv, “and don’t even get me started on Alice! “A wolf whistle leaving the little lady's lips, before an ‘oof!’ as her pillow was swung back at her, succeeding in hitting her square in the head. 

It was quite amusing to Max to witness the more level headed of the 3 siblings to be so outlandishly crude, Dot usually being the one to put an end to her brother’s endless flirting with others, or to straight up bonk them over the head with a mallet anytime they stepped out of line. Though the Goof was aware of the Warner sister being rather boy crazy as a kid, he thought that she might have grown out of it, seeing as she always appeared to be well rounded to the outsiders. 

“Alright whateve’a! Just make sure to leave your hovel long enough to grab a plate of food” Yakko waved off dismissively, used to his sister's antics when it came to attractive actors or trash tv, “Rather not have ‘death by refusal to stop watching twilight’ on your gravestone” He mused, staying long enough to witness her eyes roll before finally closing the door, making sure it clicked shut, as he would rather not face the wrath of Dot when he did not close a door properly, that was probably the one thing that would always set his younger sister off. 

The eldest Warner then rocked on his heels, hands behind his back, before offering a cheesy grin to his companion “Looks like it's just you and me Max’n’Cheese! What should we make?” He asked leading the way down the stairs and towards the kitchen, Max following close behind. 

With his hands casually in his pockets Max could not help but to shrug “Whatever works man, I can barely cook pasta so I don’t know how much help I will be” He admitted sheepishly, deciding to leave out the fact that he probably just as clumsy as his Dad when it came to the kitchen, “And I don’t want to burn down your kitchen” he added with a small head tilt and some hesitance, glancing down to the toon who happened to glance over at that exact moment, their eyes meeting for a split second, feeling their stomachs with butterflies long enough for them both to snap their gazes away red faced. 

“Well how about a curry? Not that hard to make?” the Warner suggested, nudging Max’s side gently, “You just watch and stir the pot?” he suggested, not seeing what could ever go wrong, with a goof and a hot pot of curry. 

Max who was too distracted for the moment wondering if it would be possible to hold Yakko’s hand without the other noticing, quickly blinked out of his thoughts, having been lost in a daze for a split second, huh? Watch a pot? He could do that! Surely it wouldn’t be too hard! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

He was wrong. So very wrong. 

Yakko had left for a total of 2 minutes to get some veg from the pantry, only to return to hot curry absolutely everywhere- the ceiling. The floor. The countertop, and most importantly all over Max, the apron luckily blocking off his clothes, and arms blocking off his face. 

Yakko dropped the tomatoes with a splat in disbelief, Max stood their feeling ashamed, his heart racing in his chest, this was it, this is where Yakko would lose it with him, he could feel it coming he had completely ruined his friend's kitchen, Curry was everywhere, it would definitely stain, it would take ages to clean, he was internally complaining to whatever artist drew him, cursing them out for giving him his Dad’s habits. But for now, he settled for trying to act like everything was fine, despite the curry burning his right arm, He gave a small wave 

“uh- H-hi?” voice cracking in the middle, and when he noticed how utterly floored Yakko looked, how the toon for once seemed at a loss for words, Max was prepared for an absolute storm to occur so hurried to try and contain it, especially when a dragged out 

“uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” escaped him, before he finally looked around the room, noticing the damage that was done, But for Yakko it was not the damage he was worried about, no as soon as he saw the steam rising from the curry he made a straight line for Max 

“Look! Man, I'm so sorry! Complete accident I swe-” 

“Dude! Your arm!” Yakko yelled out, hand reaching out and taking Max’s curry covered one and inspecting it before quickly dragging him to the sink and turning on a cold tap. “I knew I should of sang that song about cooking safety” he mummered “might be a bit late for that now though wouldn’t you say?” He asked with a lopsided grin, baffling the toon that was prepared for an earful, however he winced once the cold water suddenly hit the burned arm. 

“y-ya maybe a bit late for that” he admitted quietly watching as Yakko inspected the arm carefully, now washed free of Curry, the shorter toon led max towards the clean part of the kitchen and looked for a first aid kit, “uh- the kitchen-" Max glanced back ready to apologies only to be stopped by Yakko interrupting him. 

“Wil survive, trust me with the Warners as its occupants it has seen worse days” He admitted smiling, Sure the curry would be a pain in the ass to clean up, but Yakko was sure when Wakko came home he could pull something out of his gag space to help, besides right now he was more focused on fixing up Max before the curry did some serious damage, “but I got to admit, I have not seen a disaster like this since my days on set” a low whistle leaving him, before directing his attention to the drawer he was currently looking through. 

A nervous chuckle escaped Max as he kept his arm under the faucet but leaned against the counter, “Well that’s the power of being a Goof for ya, I tried to warn you” he mused “but what was I supposed to say when you insisted~?” Max asked leaning in a little bit closer just as Yakko pulled the first aid kit out of the seemingly endless drawer, momentarily confused on how such a large kit could fit in the tiny drawer. 

Laughing quietly to himself Yakko could hear how Max’s tone had dropped a little, but he would not focus on it, scared that he would read too much into it, and confuse it for interest when it was merely playful fun, “Maybe tell me that curry was not your strongsuit?~” Yakko teased right back, pulling out some burn cream from the pack, his eyes glancing back up to Max for a moment, 

“But, I don’t mind, means I can pay you back for patching me up last night” With that he carefully rubbed the gel onto the more red colored area, watching for any signs of pain, in case he was being too rough, but as soon as the coolness touched burning skin, Max could not help but sigh in relief, “Ya know I don’t like owing toons anything and at least thing way we can match!” he claimed, holding up the white gauze with a smile, lifting his friends arm up, and wrapping the bandage around it carefully but firmly, content for this moment. 

Max couldn’t help the small chuckle that left him, luckily suppressing a hyuck, unable to remove his eyes from the toon that was bandaging him up, the toon who despite wearing gloves felt so warm, from here Max realized Yakko’s hand was smaller than his, not by much, but enough that Max itched to find out how much smaller. 

“you don’t owe me anything Yakko, I help because I want to” he admitted softly, catching the gaze of the shorter toon who looked up briefly, taken by how gentle the goof had sounded, for a moment it was silent, Yakko’s breath in his throat, all he wanted to do in this second was to bump his head back into Max’s chest, where it was only hours before, but he fought against that thought, Instead settling for looking back down to the job at hand, taking a bit of the bandage tape to secure to properly in place. 

“That’s what you said to PJ till you decided he owed ya one of his sandwiches last week” Yakko mused, lightly smacking the bandage once it was properly secured and about to step back, only to be stopped when Max held his hand. 

“Heh true- but! I mean it when it comes to you.” His eyes refused to leave Yakko’s, Max could not help it as his heart raced, He hoped by saying something like this Yakko would catch onto his interest, the goof was not yet ready to fully confess, but he hoped by leaving little hints it would at least get everyone off his back, and perhaps even if Yakko would be the one to confess, that is- if the feelings were reincorporated... and if not- no harm done! They could continue as friends! Hahah! Ya....no. That would completely crush Max. 

Yakko stared for a long moment, noticing how Max had leaned forward, Yakko began to lean forward on instinct “You mean it?” he asked, voice also quite, the air between them becoming tense with the silence, “Ya of course, you're really important to me Yakko, I would do anything for you” Max muttered just above his breath, eyes darting down to Yakkos lips for a second, The message clear, he was asking for permission, And Yakko, Yakko really wanted to give that permission, he really wanted this happen, but there was just something stopping him from giving that permission, he did not know if it was fear, or nerves but all that he knew is that, He pulled away, slipping his hand away from Max’s own, suddenly feeling so much colder, He attempted to ignore the disappointment that flashed across Max’s expression, but he could not ignore the tug of guilt that plagued his chest, He just, could not let that happen... Not yet. 

“I-… I'm going to tell Dot dinner will be late.” It was quiet, but the regret in his voice was clear, Max seemed to want to say something, but then stopped himself only nodding in response. 

“OH. Alright I'll just- I'll just change into my hoodie..” He suggested, tone sounding dejected, walking off to retrieve the hoodie Yakko had borrowed. 

Watching him go a sigh left the comedy toon, before he walked off to the hallway, He could not figure out what was wrong with him, He wanted to kiss Max he really did, but then again, he felt worried, worried that the kiss would mean nothing to Max, that it would just be played off as a prank, Yakko did not have much experience in relationships, despite what he liked to say, he was aware of Max having at least 2 official partners, so what if he was just reading the signals wrong? What if all that Max wanted was an experiment? … without an official label for them Yakko was driving himself crazy, more then usual, they were friends! But friends didn’t nearly kiss each other! Friends did not want to hold each others hands! Friends did not notice every expression that crossed their face, and friends did not- crush on each other. 

Yakko realised in that moment, that he might have fucked up, That may have been the perfect chance to try something new and he blew it. Shaking his head Yakko rounded the corner, preparing to walk up the stairs only to stop when he noticed a very unimpressed Dot sitting on the stairs, a Dot who very obviously had been spying. 

“You are an idiot” She said 

And Yakko could not help but to agree, bonking his forehead agaisnt the post at the bottom of the stairs, “I know.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Next thing they knew 3 hours had passed, the kitchen was mostly clean, the food was eaten, and the two toons sat in the living room playing video games, It was fun, the akwardness from eariler forgotten between playful insults and competitive trashtalk.  
Wakko came home just as the two were finishing up their 35th round of mortal combat, Yakko stood triumphed on top of the couch, one foot proudly perched on the coffee table and controller raised over his head as he cackled, 

“How do ya like that for button smashing Maxamillion!” Yakko yelled pointing his controller at the defeated toon who had thrown himself back on the floor with a groan, It was quite the scene to walk in on, but always the quite one, Wakko did not make a sound as the door closed behind him, luckily it did not seem like he needed to say anything to make his presence known as almost instantly Yakko had snapped his head over in Wakkos direction and waved. 

“AH! Hey baby bro! How was band? Theres curry in the microwave” he admitted yelping when he fell from the couch with a crash, a grinning Max on the ground who had pulled Yakko down by the ankle out of pettiness. He was quick to shoot a glare towards the sniggering goof once the dizzy spell wore off. 

“Band was good but all I want is to fit back, relaxxx and watch some extreme sport without helmets” Wakko admitted spinning his drumsticks in hand, before walking towards the kitchen, or well floating. Once he smelled the food. 

“Theres also donuts in the fridge! The strawberry one is Dot’s though!” Yakko warned, not bothering to mention the one he had saved for himself, No longer hungry for it, sitting up he stretched, before noticing how tired and tense Max seemed. 

After a moment of thought he decided to suggest, “Hey, wanna go for a walk?” thumbing towards the door “All those video games made me stiff, I don’t know about you though dude. “The toon stood dusting himself off. And Max was quick to follow suit, standing he stretch enough for a crack to be heard before looking to Yakko, “Ya I could go for a walk” he admitted slipping his phone into his pocket as Yakko was already making his way over to grab a coat. 

With his coat and scarf on and Max now ready to leave the two made their way out, Yakko shouting behind him “IM GOING OUT! WAKKO KEEP DOT AWAY FROM THE TOASTER” she had managed to explode 3 toasters on them this month alone, and Yakko was hoping to make this one last at least 2 months. A gloved hand appeared from the doorway of the kitchen with a thumbs up gesture before Yakko decided it was fine to leave, smiling to himself he stepped out into the cool night air, letting it ruffle his hair for a bit before sighing contently. Sneaking a glance to his companion before stepping down the steps. 

“So, your old man’s getting married?” He asked bringing up the conversation from earlier in hopes of having something to talk about, Yakko was never a fan of the silence, but with Max the silence felt oddly comforting. 

They began their walk out of the house and down the street, Yakkos hands by his side and Max’s in his hoodies pocket. 

“Heh ya, gonna be honest, never thought I would see the day my Dad was getting married, it feels almost- unreal-” Max still sounded amazed by the idea of it all, He had been worried about his Dad over the past few years, he was worried about who would look after his Dad once he graduated College and officially moved out, so knowing that there was now someone there for him, hopefully permanently. Eased the load off his shoulders. 

Yakko smiled as Max talked, for all the complaining the the goof did about his father, It seemed like he had just as many compliments to give. “but hey at least it’s something to look forward to” the warner said, nudging Max’s side. “just like how I'm looking forward to a slush pup” which caught Max off guard. 

“A slush pup? Since when are you getting a slush pup?” he was laughing now, enjoying how smug Yakko looked in this moment, hands shoving into his pockets, “since I said so~ look where we are headin’ Maxamillion” The shorter toon teased gesturing to the 7/11 only a few minutes away. 

“how can you drink that Yak, it’s freezing out” the taller asked, but couldn’t help but add “if that’s all you wanted I could of drove us” he suggested not minding, attempting to ignore his sudden craving for the icy treat once Yakko mentioned it, to which Yakko shook his head at the suggestion, 

“If we took the car Dot and Wakko would definitely send us a errands list. And It takes longer to walk...I- “ Yakkos hands now strung together nervously as he looked down and took a breath before he looked up, “and I wanted to talk about what happened, ya know in the kitchen” Yakko admitted, determination in his gaze, he wanted to talk about it, so that they could clear up any misunderstandings. 

Only Max took this determined look as preparation for rejection, and though he original thought he would be ok with however this turned out, he could not bring himself to prepare for it now, so just as they stood still and Yakko went to speak Max was quick to jump in and change the subject. 

“ah! Look! Were here! Hold that thought dude- better get those slushies fast huh? Maybe find a bench to talk or something?” his speech was fast and he was trying to rush Yakko through the automatic doors, much to the shorter toons confusion, “so what flavor do ya want? Hm? Cherry? Cola? Blueberry? You seem like a mixed kind of guy-” Max continued on with his mini rant, doing everything he could to ignore the confrontation for now. 

Confused on the sudden change of topic, Yakko tried to stop Max from pushing him into the store, but after a few moments and being unable to interrupt the rant, Yakko eventually gave up and walked to in, deciding that finding a place to sit first was a good idea, It also gave him some time to think about what he was going to say, but he was sure of one thing, he would not let this topic drop , not this time, because he was determined to set the record straight.


	14. Chapter 12: A question to change a friendship.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why is it i can only write them somewhat in character at 4am??? what the hell is this my life now? sleep scedule gone out the damn window.

Chapter 12: Can we try something new? 

Waltzing out the door, large slush puppies in hand Yakko sent a wink and a finger gun back to the cashier, A tall girl who was blushing and giggling into her hand, for a toon who tended to say too much at the wrong time, Yakko did have moves when he wanted to Max had to admit, shaking his head the goof dragged Yakko away before he could throw another flirty remark, 

“Come on Romeo. We have a park to find” Max complained, pulling the now slouching toon along. 

“Hey! I got us free donuts! If anything, you should be thanking me~” He claimed pulling a chocolate donut from the box they were given, Apparently the donuts were supposed to be thrown out for being there too long, usually employees take them home, But thanks' to Yakko’s charm the young woman had given them to him instead, all he had to give in return was a wink and the deal was sealed. Max wondered if Yakko even felt the slightest bit bad, when he admitted to Max on their way out that he was not interested in a date with her, but by the looks of it he did not even feel the slightest bit of remorse. 

That would be true, as to Yakko Flirting was just flirting, a way of conversation, a way to get things done, sure it could be inappropriate at times, but the times it worked, usually something always came out of it, and in this case, He got the donuts and the pretty sales assistant got some nice compliments so it was a win/win situation. 

“How do you even do that?” Max wondered aloud, giving Yakko a questioning look as the two made their way back down the sidewalk, Yakko who was happily slurping up the colorful ice gave Max a small side glance before asking, 

“Do what? If ya mean drink with two straws it’s rather simple bud-” 

“No- not that! I mean the flirting, don’t ya ever get..Embarrassed?” He asked, seeing as Max was not the most confident toon, it only made sense for him to be baffled by the existence that was Yakko Warner. “No offence but some of the things you say can be- well cringe worthy” The goof was only being honest, taking a sip of his own Slush, which was cherry flavored, a big contrast to Yakko’s that was practically a mix of every single flavor ‘If im payin’ 4.50 I shouldn’t have ta choose’ were Yakko’s wise words when he made that decion. 

Yakko seemed to fall into his thoughts for a moment, trying to come up with a way to explain his flirting habits, it should have been simple really but it was hard to explain to someone something that had always been a part of the way you talk, since you never really thought much of it. 

“Huh. I actually don’t know Maxamillion, All I know is Girls pretty and boys handsome so I give ‘em the well-deserved compliments” the shorter shrugged “besides it’s a good way to get free stuff” a smirk fell on his lips as he gave Max a smug look, proud of his accomplishment of gaining them free donuts. “No room for embarrassment when I'm just being honest” though a secret slipped passed his lips unknowingly “Flirting is apart of my nature, I only really get emmbarest when I'm into the person I'm flirting with” he mused sipping away at his Frankenstein creation, enjoying the switch between sweet and sour a little too much. 

This caught Max off guard, “You get emmbarest? When you're talking to a crush?” Max did not know why the idea seemed so odd to him, he had just assumed that the Warner never got emmbarest, that he was unable to feel such a thing, It made the taller toon curious on what an emmbarest Yakko would look like.. But before his thoughts could go any further, he shook out of them, no that was dangerous territory to enter with the toon right beside him. 

Snorting Yakko looked back to Max, wind tussling his hair ever so gently, his cheeks pink from the cold, “ Of course I do man! Flirting with someone who has no interest in me? That I can do. Being flirted with while I have feelings for someone? That I cannot. Just makes things too messy” Yakko did not know why he was telling Max this, It was something he was not proud of, it made him feel almost ashamed, that a toon like him who had no problem running his mouth, clammed up when the smallest bit of affection was returned. “I flirt with everyone Max and cheese, how would my interest even know I was being serious?” A brow was raised. 

Max supposed Yakko had a point, it would be hard to tell the difference between genuine flirting and playful flirting, but he could not help but notice something. “You never flirt with me.” though it was something should not raise his hope , in fact it should do the opposite, Max could not help it as his interest peaked once Yakko mentioned being unable to flirt when feelings were involved, This immediately caught a reaction from Yakko, who’s tail went still and ears twitched in surprise, pausing for a second before he continued, steps a bit faster now. 

“That’s because I don’t flirt with friends bud! Its not a good look” it was a bad lie, one that was easily seen through by an unimpressed Max who hurried his steps easily catching up with his longer legs “You flirt with Babs when she’s dating buster, and you flirt with Pj when he is straight” he admitted, tone dry as he knew Yakko was attempting to cover something up, but even if his tone was serious, there was a smile forming on his lips and a slight bounce in his step, hoping to catch Yakko out. 

But the shorter toon was frantically looking around now before his eyes landed on what he was looking for “Oh look! A park! Race ya to the swingsets!” and with that he raced off, leaving Max and the conversation behind, cheeks burning. It was enough of a dramatic reaction that Max couldn’t help but laughing into the air, leaning onto his knees witnessing the over energetic toon race off, once again leaving behind a cloud of dust, it was hard to hide his smile though, because Max felt a bit more confident in what he was going to ask Yakko now, Though Yakko’s reaction could easily be taken as the eldest warner not wanting to hurt Max’s feelings if he did not consider him worthy enough to flirt with, Max would swat those negative thoughts away, and allow himself to hope for something more. Hope that this was an opening. 

So straightening his posture Max followed suit, holding down another bubble of laughter as he chased after the speedy toon towards the swing sets, jumping a hedge in the process. 

“Hey! Don’t drop the donuts!” he called out, earning a wide grin from Yakko as he looked back, weather Yakkos heart was racing from the running or almost being caught out, He could not tell, but what he did know, is that if this pounding did not stop soon, he was sure he would need an electric shock to restart. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` 

They each dived for a seat, Yakko to the left and Max to the right, though the goof, in typical clumsy fashion missed the seat and ended up falling face down in the dirt, causing a laugh to rip from his companion, who sat on his own swing, grinning down like some sort of angel in moonlight, despite laughing at another's misery. 

The box of donuts placed to one side and a slushie in each hand, at least Max did not have to worry about being splashed with ice after that fall, luckily he had worse fall’s from his skatebored so sat up without a problem, but grumbled rubbing his nose, glaring sharply to his friend, who sat there way to happily for Max’s liking, “Not gonna help me up?” He asked, already knowing he would not get any help, Max pulled himself up to his seat, embarrassment causing him to seem a little moody, though Yakko did not seem to mind as he only smiled, offering Max back the slushie that the toon managed to catch with wonderful skill when it flew into the air at the fall. 

“Nah, seems like you got this one yourself” he teased “besides someone had to make sure you didn’t drop this on your pants or something, last thing I need is an ice cube for a pal” With his companion now sitting upright, he gave Max a little nudge. 

Taking the slush back with a small mumble of thanks Max took a sip. Hoping to at least save some of his dignity from the awful situation he landed himself in, allowing silence to overcome the air, not that it would stay that way for long, definitely not with Yakko Warner only a few steps away. 

Rocking gently on the swing, Yakko began to click, just enough so he would catch a small breeze. 

“Why are they called slush puppies anyway?” was the question from the curious toons lips, an odd remark from someone who just witnessed a faceplant, noticing the confused look he was getting from Max, Yakko continued “I mean they aint slushed puppies, there's nothing puppy about them! False advertisement if you ask me, was slushie even a word before these were made?” he continued swirling the mush around in his cup, catching Max’s eyes when he stole a glance over. 

This topic made Max scratch his chin for a moment, He supposed that Yakko did have a point, why were they named something so weird, “I don’t man, What would you call them?” He hummed moving so he was not straddling the seat, able to face Yakko now, attempting to ignore that holding the treat outside made him shiver slightly from the cold. 

“well for starters! Something to do with ice? How bout, flavored ice, that seems more accurate, Do you know how hard it was to explain to Wakko when he was a kid that I was not drinking a puppy that was slush?” He asked, recalling that day and how Wakko had teared up, it definitely did not help that the slushie was cherry flavor, and thus red, Dot hyping up the idea that it was indeed a puppy and Yakko was a Vampire definitely stirred that pot enough that Wakko hid in the attic for 7 hours, refusing to come down until Yakko proved he was not a vampire, surprisingly hard to do when you are drawn with sharp teeth, but what’s a toon to do about that. 

The little story caused a lopsided grin to form on Max’s lips, it sounded strange, but being friends with Yakko, he had heard stranger. “Take’s wording quite, literally do they?” He mused placing his drink on the ground beside him, enjoying how Yakko dramatically threw his head back with flair and a groan, once a drama, always a drama king. 

“You have no idea. Sometimes I think they are doing it on purpose” he whined only to hear a snort from Max. 

“Say’s the guy who thought fireflies were flies that caught fire” the taller pointed out, watching as Yakko slipped down into his seat more, the only thing keeping him up, being the fact that he was holding the chains of the swing. 

“The word is completely misleading! Admit it!” Was Yakkos excuse, only to be shot down by Max once again, who sat there, entertained with his arms folded. 

“Nothing a quick google search couldn’t have solved” he pointed out, causing Yakko to throw his hands in the air. 

“Fine! It's a family thing then! Our braincell gets passed around too much! Sue me” he claimed, huffing and taking an aggressive bite out of his donut, muffling the rest of his rant. 

For educational toons, the trio did tend to take some things to seriously, and could be a bit gullible at times, not often catching onto the non-literal meaning of words or phrases. But hearing Yakko admit that he thought he and his siblings were one in the same brainwise, was enough to make the Goof crack up, Hand slapping to his forehead, as it would explain alott, the siblings sometimes seemed like the same person from the mannerisms they picked off each other. His laughter contagious as Yakko who had paused in surprise of hearing the wonderfully funny sound followed suit, his laughter mingling into the night air. 

They sat there laughing for a while, Yakko only laughing harder as Max could no longer contain his ‘hyucks’, Yakko loved that sound, it was so utterly ridiculous that to a comedy toon like him, it was the most perfect thing he had ever heard. Toon’s tended to care less about physical appearance than humans, for a toon, it was all about the humor their partner could provide, nothing much could be done to change a toon’s appearance, so their society adapted accordingly, finding attractiveness in humor and personality. And for a toon based around comedy like Yakko, the most ridiculous and comedic the partner the better. 

However the moment came to a close when a sneeze interrupted Max’s laughter, his head quickly bowing to his elbow before he could sneeze, it was a hard one, enough to shock the goof’s body out of laughter as he sniffled, giving Yakko time to calm down, before his focus returned to Max. 

“You cold?” he asked only now noticing how Max seemed to be tensed in an attempt to keep warm. 

“Only a little, I’ll be fine though” Max swore rubbing into the sleeve of his coat for a moment, before looking back to Yakko, a sudden breeze blew by, catching Max off guard, and a chill to run up his spine, his teeth now chattering, Yakko as if out of habbit, unwrapped his scarf from himself and went to throw it around Max, only to be stopped when the toon raised his hands. 

“No, dude its cold- keep it, really I will be fine-” maybe it would have been more convincing if it was not said through chattering teeth, Yakko stared at him in neutral disbelief, eyes darting to Max’s hoodie and then back to the toons face. 

“Buddy. You don’t even have a shirt under that hoodie, here. I have a coat and I'm used to one of my sibs always forgetting to bring something warm anyway” he admitted leaning over a little, using the Scarf almost like a skipping rope, he threw it over Max’s head, hands still holding the ends of the scarf, as he crossed the ends over each other and began to wrap and secure it out of habit, leaning strangely close to get this done. 

Max almost forgot how to breath, as Yakko threw the scarf over him, also leaning forward as the toon before him tugged the scarf, bringing it closer along with Max, The goof’s eyes wide, as all he could do, was stare bug eyed at the person in front of him, hesitating to do somuch as exhale a breath, suddenly he wondered if he ate mints after dinner, and for a moment worried if his breath smelled bad, Heart racing at having Yakko so close once again, even if he was concentrated on wrapping the scarf for now, Max felt himself swallow a lump in his throat, as he ached for those eyes to meet his in this very moment. 

Speaking of Yakko, the scarf smelled of him, of mint, apples, fresh paper and ink, an odd combo, that oddly- suited the shorter toon that rocked forward in front of him, the toon that unknowingly was causing chaos with-in Max’s head, the toon that had no idea that he was the reason Max found it hard to sleep at night. That he was the reason Max stayed for lunch every day, That he was the toon that Max... had nearly kissed. 

The toon that he wished he could have kissed when he had the chance... from the moment during their game of uno, to the counter situation in Max’s apartment and the Kitchen moment earlier that day, Max really wished he took that leap when it presented itself. But there was no use in regretting it now, not when there would be many more chances for that, if he could just get this moment right. Please if this was the only thing he ever did right in his life, let this be it. He needed it to be right. 

So, with a deep breath Max reached up.. His hand landing over Yakko’s, enough for his attempts at making Max warm to still, inkwell eyes looking up slowly before they feel upon Max’s own, the toon took his companions hands with-in his own, thumbs brushing covered knuckles for a moment, and gathering up every ounce of courage he had with-in him, Max finally let the words out, finally saying what he had been dying to, for almost 3 months now. 

“I want to learn everything about you...could you, Give me that chance? Give me that chance to be more than a friend to you”


	15. chapter 13: THE MOMENT YOU ALL HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What is in store for these dorks? well stay tuned to find out.

Chapter 13: The answer 

“I want to learn everything about you... could you, give me that chance? Give me that chance to be more than a friend to you..” 

The breeze seemed to still, Yakko was astonished and Max held his breath, staring at Yakko hopefully, though his hope and confidence crumbled away the longer Yakko stayed silent, Internally Max began to panic, what if he read everything wrong? What if Yakko only saw him as a friend? But that wasn’t possible...right? Alott of toons had pointed it out, and at time even confused he and Yakko as a couple, but then again that might mean anything. 

However, the goof's internal monologue was cut short by a voice speaking up, voice cracking “Like- being best friend's?” Yakko asked. His own thoughts racing at the confession, he tried hard to not get his hopes up, though it was his original plan to confront the almost kiss in the kitchen in the park, now that Max had said something that sounded an awful lot like a confession the eldest Warner found his brain malfunctioning. 

A disappointed looked past Max’s expression as he loosened his hold on Yakko’s hand, but he was not going to lose his nerve, not now, he had to say this, he had to put it out there, everything he was feeling, he needed to hang it all out on a line, because otherwise it would just continue to eat him up inside. 

“No- well yes- but that’s not all! I- ughh I'm bad at words” The taller grumbled dropping his head into his hands now, letting go of yakkos hand in the process, Yakko sat still and stared, waiting to hear what Max was going to say, but when the toon finally raised his head, his cheeks were a lovely shade of red and his eyes darted to the side, He had never been good at speaking, not like Yakko. Instead, he tended to stumble over them and just cause confusion, even though all he had to say was a simple- I like you, it was proving difficult because there was just so much more he wanted to say, he wanted to say how Yakko was his best friend, how Yakko always made him smile by simply being there, how he always felt lonely in a crowded room if Yakko was not there for him. 

Yakko stared for a moment longer, before the words simply fell from his own lips “you-..like me. But in a more then pal’s way” it was whispered softly, as though Yakko was scared to say them, scared to be wrong, Max froze up but eventually gave a nod in agreement, dragging his gaze back to yakko and with a deep breath began to fidget with his hands. 

“y-ya-… you know I'm not the best with words, but Yakko I want to try something new with you, something more, you’re one of the closest pal’s I have! So I guess this is why it’s so hard, unlike with Roxxie or Mona, I actually have something to lose with you, and I guess I'm scared of that...losing you. You get me?” He asked nervously, before casting a small glance to the awe-struck toon only a few inches away from him. 

“After what nearly happened in my apartment, I tried to push it off as a onetime thing that you were not interested, but after the kitchen I got my hopes up... Is that bad? I just really, really! Like you Yakko Warner. You don’t have to give me an answer right away, I just wanted to let you know..” he admitted with a small mumble, fiddling with the straw of his cup, It was a only a few sentences, nothing big or grand, but Yakko wouldn’t have it any other way, It still made his heart rate pick up, and sent this numbing feeling through him, but if it was the butterflies or his leg falling asleep no one would ever know, But with a simple glance Yakko could practically hear the thoughts running through the others mind, they were so loud. 

They stayed there in silence for a moment, Max fidgeting and Yakko thinking, before the shorter of the two reached over, hand gripping the scarf once again, unable to hide the smile on his lips, when he pulled Max forward a little till their noses brushed. Succeeding in making Max cease his thinking. From this distance, Max could not help it as his gaze glanced towards Yakkos lips briefly and then back up to his companions lined eyes. 

“I don’t need time to think Max n cheese, I want to try something new too..” 

With that he leaned forward and in a brief moment, the long awaited and often halted action was complete, They kissed. And all that either could think was how warm everything suddenly felt, It was a sweet and momentary kiss, with nothing but longing hidden behind it’s motives, It was enough time for Max to slip his eyes shut after a moment of shock, not registering that YAKKO WARNER HAD AND WAS KISSING HIM, smiling as a hand moved to the toons cheek, thumb brushing his jaw gently, and almost hesitantly, as though he was scared a small movement would ruin the moment. 

They stayed like that for a second or two, before Yakko pulled back, his stomach swirling enough to make him feel nauseous, a mix of nerves and excitement making quite the adrenaline cocktail, he couldn’t help the small bubble of laughter that left him, fingers raising to his lips. 

“Not bad Maxamillion~ I wanted to try that for aw-” and then a shadow fell over him as Max leaned forward once more, taking yakkos hand and removing it, surprising Yakko now, as their lips brushed again. Leaving the shorter toon, momentarily stunned before another bundle of laughter slipped past his lips, arms coming up and wrapping around Max’s shoulders, humming into this kiss, The goof unable to help it, the feeling of kissing was addictive, such a simple action but he kept wanting another, and another, having wanting this for so long, he could hardly believe that right before him, was the object of his affections, so when he pulled out of the kiss once more, Max had to fight the need for another, deciding that this was enough for their first, instead kissing Yakkos cheek and sighing contently, leaning away. The swing rocking with the movement. But he hardly noticed, eyes still on Yakko. 

“So... What are we now?” Max asked, his fingers intertwining with Yakkos own, watching as the flustered toon stared down at their hands in satisfaction. 

“Well, I don’t know Max..I- don’t think I'm ready for the labels yet” Yakko admitting, biting his bottom lip nervously as his hand scratched the back of his head. 

“I want to try this- whatever this is with you.. I want to try something more but I'm not ready for the labels yet. I like you- but could we test the waters first?” 

It was nothing to do with Max! Just Yakko was not ready to jump into a fully committed relationship yet, they had not had a single date, and what if Max grew to dislike how clingy he was? Yakko wanted to take things slow, He liked things the way they were.. He wanted more of course! Like the hand holding and the kisses, but the idea of already slapping a label on what they were frightened him a little. He was worried Max would be put off or disappointed with this, but instead he seemed to sigh in relief, and squeeze Yakkos hand in a reassuring manner. 

And Max raised Yakko’s hand up and offered a smile, “Of course, we can take this as slow as you like. I promise. “the moment was sweet but of course Yakko could not keep it like that for long as he suddenly fell silent before asking, 

“Does this mean I have to stop flirting for free stuff?” He asked, gaining an owlish look from his companion before Max could not help his bark of laughter. 

“I can't ask ya to give up that Man, it’s practically part of personality now. But just as long as I'm the only one who you take it serious with” Max mused, giving Yakko side eyes, “besides, only I get to hold your hand like this” he teased holding it up to show Yakko who in return lightly punched Max in the arm with his free hand, earning a chuckle that filled him with warmth, But he also could not help but to smile, it wasn’t often that he found someone that was alright with his playful flirting, though Yakko highly doubted he would flirt with others now, not when he had the perfect toon right beside him ready to be showered in compliments. 

“Ya know I'm a handful” Yakko warned in a playful taunt, nose pointing to the air, only now noticing how the stars in the sky seemed more clear tonight. He wanted to make sure that Max was fully up to the challenge of dating him. 

“good thing I have two hands” max mused right back, catching onto Yakko’s little game, before his attention was also directed towards the sky. 

“I'm a mess” the shorter shot back, swinging their hands lightly, feeling comfortable in this moment, hardly noticing when the breeze picked up once again. 

“And I’m a clutz~” The taller tilted his head to look back to his partner, amusement shining in his eyes. 

“Which is something I find cute about you” Yakko shot back, using his matter of fact tone, causing Max to blush, not yet used to the casual compliments that he just now realized he was allowed to give Yakko, and so he could only try to wipe the dorky grin off his face. 

“So I'm lucky I am cute is what you are saying?” Max asked, catching Yakkos gaze with his own, his breath being taken away by the bright beam Yakko showed with his smile, leaning forward and pressing a quick kiss to the others cheek, before he stood slipping his hand away from Max’s own to stretch, “Exactly that Maxxie boy~ but are ya still sure you are ready for all of this?” Yakko asked gesturing to him self “I'm told I can be a little- chaotic" he rocked on his heels, now standing in front of max who was still sitting. 

Max looked up, appreciating the new perspective this gave him of Yakko, “A little?” Max snorted, a brow raising “you are a hurricane” he stated, enjoying how the toon before him seemed to take that as a compliment, if his straighter posture had anything to say about it. 

“What a dangerous thing to say for someone with-in kissing distance” the hybrid toon claimed, looking down to his gloved hands as though looking over his nails, acting as though that should have been some sort of threat, when in reality, Yakko was simply dying to kiss Max again, all the pent up pining from the past few weeks, finally released. 

Max on the other hand, only rolled his eyes and pulled Yakko so the toon landed in his lap with a small ‘oof-’, “Well I could think of worse punishments” Max mumered, completely enamored with the toon he now could hold close, leaning in to steal a kiss, however as their lips met a chill shot up Max’s spine causing him to pull back, suddenly remembering how cold it actually was, “Not that I don’t love getting the chance to make out with you, We should probably start walking now, its getting colder” He admitted quietly, having to hold back his laughter at Yakko’s frown that looked more like a pouting child, But when Yakko realized he would not be able to convince Max to stay a little longer, he removed himself from Max with an unhappy groan, pulling Max up by the hand, leaning down to pick up the box of donuts because littering was not cool. 

“FIiiiinnneeeeee but on one condition” Yakko raised his finger to his lip as if telling a secret, making Max curious, “sure dude what is it?” he asked picking up their now empty slushie cups with his free hand. 

“You have to let me, help you study geography for your test next week” he chimed, a skip in his step as they started walking, the suggestion almost disappointed Max, he hoped for something like make up kisses or cuddles, and it confused him why Yakko seemed so excited at the idea of studying. 

“Why? Im passing that class” Max claimed almost sounding offended, to which Yakko responded without even sparing a glance, “Ya, barely. No partner of mine will make a mockery of geography, not when Mr. Countries of the world is right here!” with that he threw his hand into air. 

The good could no longer hide his snort, “Yak! That was when you were, what- 14? Let it go man, bet you don’t even remember half of them” he teased, to which Yakko stuck out his thounge. 

“Tell that to my passing grades, and! I can prove it right here and now that I remember them!” he took a deep breath preparing himself, 

And Max uttered out a small and horrified “oh no-” knowing he would be listening to this all the way back to the Warner house hold, but he found that he actually did not mind it as much as he used to, because with Yakko’s hand in his, how could he be upset with anything? Besides, Yakko seemed brighter than usual when he sang, reminding Max that he was now dating one of the lead actors in the theatre society. 

Dating..... 

DATING! 

Oh shit- it just clicked- HE WAS DATING YAKKO WARNER! Max snapped his head sharply and stared unblinking at the singing toon, then to their hands, disbelief washed across his face, the shock enough for him to trip over air before he was suddenly thrusted forward, the world spinning and he set the concrete with a yelp. 

SHit- he rolled on his back staring up at Yakko who leaned over him with wide eyes, his song cut short as he blinked down to the clumsy toon, and all that Max could think was how handsome Yakko looked under the street lamp, “you alright?” Yakko asked concern lacing with his voice, to which Max felt his face burn and he nodded covering his face with his hands a yap of embarrassment leaving him, peaking between his fingers when he heard Yakko laugh, it was warm and light hearted, not condecending in the slightest, but looking might of been the biggest mistake Max ever made, because from here, he was left victem to the blindng light of Yakko, closed eyes and a sweet but honest grin, and a hand reaching out to help Max up,  
"A burn and a possiably a busted nose all in one day, let's hope ya dont break a bone before the nights out." 

but insted of responding, Max just covered his face again, cheeks burning red and over heating, it truely was unfair, who gave this honestly dorky toon the right to be so charming, Max was going to combust.


End file.
